New Mexico Corrections Department  The New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD; ) is a state agency of New Mexico, headquartered in unincorporated Santa Fe County, near Santa Fe. It operates prisons in the state. This list includes detention facilities in New Mexico which house prisoners of the state. "See more: New Mexico State Penitentiary riot"  The Penitentiary of New Mexico Prison Riot, which took place on the weekend of February 2 and 3, 1980, was the most violent prison riot to date in the history of the American prison system. During an inmate takeover lasting only 36 hours, 33 inmates were killed and 12 officers were held hostage by prisoners who had escaped from a dormitory in the main unit, the southern half of the prison. Inmates were brutally butchered, dismembered, burned alive with torches and hung up in the cell house for display. Although taking many years, this riot eventually led to several changes in New Mexico's prison system, including a modern inmate classification system modeled after the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons, as well as the closing of the prison cellhouses and dormitories that were in use at the time of the riot. Since the establishment of the New Mexico Corrections Department, 5 officers have died in the line of duty.