As part of Sunshine Week, the Rio Grande chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is highlighting work by New Mexico journalists this week that made use of Sunshine laws. Independent reporter Peter St. Cyr points out that it’s almost impossible for the public to scrutinize what prison officials do with inmates behind a prison’s locked gates.
After hearing allegations that New Mexico Corrections officials had sexually humiliated inmates at the New Mexico Central Correctional Facility in Los Lunas, and either lost or destroyed video and photographic evidence from the incidents, he started asking tough questions.
Working with Alexa Schirtzinger, former editor of the Santa Fe Reporter (and former Rio Grande Chapter director), St. Cry thought it was important for journalists to scrutinize what was going on behind locked gates.
It wasn’t easy.
“Officials said they weren’t going to try the case in the media, inmates were locked up, and even their attorney couldn’t go on the record,” St. Cyr says. “Using the Inspection of Public Records Act, I got access to multiple depositions. We were able to build a story using the sworn statements and documents we got from Santa Fe, including an evidence checklist summary sheet with two checkmarks indicating that photos and video had originally been collected.
Using the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) St. Cyr and the Reporter obtained sworn depositions and were able to compile an enterprise story that eventually led to a final settlement offer to inmates and a review of the Nuts to Butts seating arrangement by administrators.
Here’s a link to the story that ran:
Nuts to Butts: Controversial prisoner shakedowns could leave taxpayers on the hook for damages
Five months after their report, the Corrections Department settled with the inmates for $750,000.
Corrections Department settles inmate lawsuit
“While the Nuts to Butts controlled seating tactic hasn’t been completely been removed as an option, the current department secretary has said he doesn’t plan to have his staff use it,” says St. Cyr.
These are the records obtained by St. Cyr for the story.
