I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Think Progress, the blog of the left-leaning Center for American Progress Action Fund, has picked up on NMI’s story about New Mexico Corrections Secretary Joe Williams not penalizing two private prison operators despite repeated contract obligations. But Think Progress added a bit of information we forgot to mention: that Williams worked for GEO, one of the two firms that wasn’t penalized, prior to becoming the state’s corrections secretary.
Williams has not been secret about the affiliation. He talks freely on the corrections department’s website about the years he spent with GEO as warden of the Lea County Correctional Facility, which the firm operates, before Gov. Bill Richardson tapped him as corrections secretary.
Here’s an excerpt from Williams biography on the agency’s website.
In 1999, four years before becoming secretary of corrections, Joe accepted one of the more difficult challenges of his career. The Geo Group, Inc. (formerly known as Wackenhut) hired Joe as the warden for the Lea County Correctional Facility, and charged him with turning around the troubled prison in Hobbs, New Mexico. The facility eventually became a flagship prison. Agreeing to serve as its warden proved to be the right move, both professionally and personally. In fact, Joe liked the city of Hobbs so much, he named his beloved basset hound Sir Hobbs.
The question now is whether Williams’ affiliation will be an issue among state lawmakers who are wondering why the corrections secretary decided against penalizing the two private prison operators — GEO and Corrections Corp. of America — possibly costing the state millions of dollars.
