Introducing: CONSPIRACY THEORIES, CULTS, AND CRIMES

By the afternoon of Saturday, February 2, 1980, the worst of the carnage at Penitentiary New Mexico has ebbed. An unknown number of inmates are dead or wounded. Many more suffer drug overdoses. Prison officials organize a news conference for rioters, and the rioters continue to release hostages. On Sunday morning, hundreds of inmates stream out of the prison. And by Sunday afternoon, the final hostages have been released and the riot is done. SWAT teams enter the prison and receive their first taste of the destruction.

WARNING: LISTENER DISCRETION ADVISED. MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY. Rioters use three acetylene cutting torches to break into Cellblock 4, the unit which houses inmates who are considered snitches. A group of 10 to 20 of the most savage rioters systematically torture and murder inmates who were trapped in their cells in Cellblock 4. The killers will later be known as “death squads.” Elsewhere at Penitentiary New Mexico, the violence and destruction reaches its peak, even as some rioters negotiate with prison officials and release hostages.

Rioters capture four more guards at Penitentiary New Mexico. They light fires throughout the prison. They gorge themselves on prescription drugs from the Hospital Unit. And when the prisoners in the notorious Cellblock 3 are released, they unite with the rioters and begin killing. But not every inmate participates in the riot. Many barricade themselves in their units for protection. Meanwhile, prison officials and members of every law enforcement agency in New Mexico converge on the facility to try to manage the crisis.

The riot at Penitentiary New Mexico rapidly spreads out of Dormitory E2 and consumes the south wing of the prison. Rioters take seven guards hostage and smash into the Control Center. From the Control Center, rioters rush into the Administration Wing and unlock the gate to North Wing. In just 22 minutes, inmates have taken control of the entire prison. While some rioters start destroying the facility, others unlock the cells of the maximum security inmates and settle grudges.

Rumors of violence at the Penitentiary of New Mexico escalate throughout January of 1980. On January 31, Intelligence Officer Larry Flood calls a high-profile meeting to discuss the rising chatter about a hostage takeover of the prison. Efforts to uncover a plot have come up empty. Attendees vow to remain vigilant. Then, less than 36 hours later, inmates in a medium security dormitory attack four guards in the middle of the night and begin the most violent prison riot in American history.