Study: A look inside New Mexico's prison population

Alexa Skonieski — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 14:00:00 GMT

Did you know 90% of New Mexico’s prison population is male? Or that most people incarcerated are between the ages of 20-49 years old? Did you know more than 75% of people on new admissions are convicted of a violent crime? That’s according to The New Mexico Sentencing Commission’s (NMSC) report, Profile of New Mexico Prison Population FY 2024.

Since 2021, the commission has produced this annual report yearly, a snapshot of the prison population in New Mexico for state-level prisoners on the last day of the fiscal year, June 30. It describes the demographics like gender, age and race in the state system, as well as crimes committed and how long they are expected to serve. The information comes directly from the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) and Census data.

“I think it’s one of the most useful reports that the commission publishes for state policymakers, because it answers a lot of the questions that they ask,” said NMSC Executive Director Douglas Carver. “We spend a lot of time in front of the legislature and talking with the legislators and their aides, and with people from the governor’s office, and what I love about the Prison Profile is it gets a lot of those questions answered.”

The fiscal year 2024 report, produced by NMSC Director of Research Nancy Shane and former UNM student employee Gianna McManaman, highlighted the main demographics and characteristics of the prison population last year:

Males comprise approximately 91% of incarcerated individuals in New Mexico prisons; females comprise 9% of the confined population.
56% of New Mexico's prison population is Hispanic, a significantly higher proportion compared to their composition in the state, 44%. Also overrepresented are Native American (11%) and Black (8%) individuals. Whites are underrepresented (23%) compared to their composition in the state (41%), as are Asian/Pacific Islanders, who comprise a small percentage of the prison population (less than 1%).
Males: 77%, incarcerated on a new admission, are convicted of a violent offense. Drug offenses (12%), property crimes (5%), DUI & weapons offenses comprise about 2% of total crimes. Females: 59% incarcerated on a new admission violent offense, drug offenses (26%), property crime (10%), DUI comprises about 2% of offenses.
The majority of males and females confined are between the ages of 20-49.

One part of the report focuses on older inmates following the changes to Medical and Geriatric Parole in the 2023 legislative session. This amendment lowered the age eligibility from 65 to 55, allowing more inmates in this age group who are suffering from life-threatening conditions to be considered for release from prison, provided they are deemed not to pose a danger.

In New Mexico, jails are managed by counties, while prisons are operated by the state. However, both face similar trends regarding recent population growth, although both are notably lower compared to their peaks (2016 for prisons & 2006 for jails). A report from the University of New Mexico Institute for Social Research, Review of the Metropolitan Detention Center Population, indicates that Bernalillo County’s jail is experiencing an increase in its population. The state-run prison system is showing similar trends, largely due to state courts catching up after disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Another report we put out documents a long-term slow decline in the number of inmates held at the state, beginning about a decade ago, and then over COVID, that dropped even more. Now we’re starting to see the population rise again, but where it will stop is the big question,” Shane said.

According to the report, on the last day of the fiscal year that the report covered (June 30, 2024), there were more than 5,600 individuals confined in New Mexico's prisons held for convictions of state crimes. That number excludes 19 pre-adjudicated defendants held on behalf of county detention facilities (criminal justice holds) as well as 63 people whose original conviction was in another state and who violated probation or parole in New Mexico (compact offenders). Data from NMCD says there are eight state-operated facilities and one privately operated facility in the state; the Lea County Correctional Facility closed last month after 27 years.

The commission creates two other prison-related reports annually, the New Mexico Prison Population Forecast, which predicts the prison population for ten years and is useful for policymakers and NMCD as they handle staffing. The Time Served in New Mexico Prisons: Analysis of the Impact of Earned Meritorious Deductions tracks the impact of earned meritorious deductions (known colloquially as “good time”) on the state’s prison population. The Legislature passed changes to the statutory scheme for earned meritorious deductions in the recent legislative session. The impact of those changes will be assessed by the commission in future reports. Next, Shane said they would like to create a report comparing the annual prison population studies over time to see what has changed, what hasn't, and other information that could be helpful to the state's policy makers.

The New Mexico Sentencing Commission is a state agency created in 2003 as a successor to the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council. While housed at UNM, the Commission does not speak for or make decisions on behalf of UNM. It is made up of representatives from the criminal justice system, including members of the Executive and Judicial branches, legislators’ appointees, law enforcement officials, criminal defense attorneys, and citizens. The NMSC's mission is to provide impartial information, analysis and assistance from a cross-agency perspective to make the best use of the state's criminal and juvenile resources.

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New Mexico Sentencing Commission - UNM UCAM Newsroom

Study: A look inside New Mexico's prison population