The Hate Factory: A First-Hand Account of the 1980 Riot at the Penitentiary of New Mexico

As a therapist in New Mexico, having worked in corrections for a number of years, starting in 1983, I have worked with a number of survivors of that masacre. They all tell their own stories which validate the authors perspective. In addition, a member of the National Guard who went into the prison, and who is a friend of mine, states the horror was worse than this book. It is significant to note that there were many more that the 30 some bodies reportedly to have been found dead by the National Guard. My compassion is strong for anyone having to do "time." The general public will never know of the day to day mental torture.

The book The Hate Factory was published by Dell as a paperback in 1982. There is no indication the book will ever be reprinted. It is now extremely rare, valuable, and hard to find. This book is an unvarnished, chilling, true account about a disastrous series of decisions by corrections officials and the shocking savagery of men living on the true edge of life. This is a prison inmate's story - his eyewitness account of a mass murder that took place inside a prison in New Mexico in 1980 when prisoners from a maximum security facility were temporarily displaced to a minimum security prison during a renovation project. What the jailers didn't know is that the prisoners had a long-planned scheme to riot -- and riot they did. In fact, the plan was so successful, the prisoners took over the facility and kept control for 36 hours. During that time, they created the natural product of a hate factory. Thirty-three prisoners suffered horrible deaths in particularly torturous, violent ways throughout the seige. I've never read anything quite like it. This is the kind of book that stays with you.

a very well written and frightening story of a prison riot, as told by someone who was there[!!]this is not a book for the squeamish.it should go back in print,i bought my copy over 25 years ago from easyriders magazine and have read it at least 4 times over the years.

A very graphic and detailed documentary on the prison riots in Santa Fe, New Mexico.This book proves that men will become animals when treated as such. It details the events leading to the massacre of inmates by their peers. From this Riot new laws have been enacted to limit the number of prisoners held in a facility.

It was the most explicit, graphic, piece of non-fiction that I have ever read in my life. The fact that it was based on actual events was disturbing in itself. Good description of human nature at it's worst. Not intended for young readers, but it should be read by every corrections officer, and criminal psychologists.