The superintendent [warden] of the penitentiary of New Mexico may institute an inmate-release program and allow penitentiary inmates to attend school or to be employed in private business while under sentence of confinement in the penitentiary if:

A. employment of a prisoner does not result in the displacement of employed workers or impair existing contracts for services and is not in a skill, craft or trade in which a surplus of available gainful labor exists in the locality;

B. rates of pay and other conditions of employment are not less than those paid or provided for work of a similar nature in the locality in which the work is performed;

C. prisoners authorized to work at paid employment under the inmate-release program are required to pay appropriate and reasonable costs incident to the program and to their confinement as prescribed by the superintendent; and

D. prisoners participating in the inmate-release program are volunteers who meet standards prescribed by law.

History: 1953 Comp., § 42-1-78, enacted by Laws 1969, ch. 166, § 1.

Bracketed material. — The bracketed material was inserted by the compiler and is not part of the law.

See notes to 33-2-16 NMSA 1978.

Cross references. — For the constitutional authorization of labor by penitentiary inmates, see N.M. Const., art. XX, § 15.

Injured prisoner entitled to workers' compensation. — A prisoner who voluntarily participated in a work-release program and was injured while under the direction of a private business was an "employee" of that business and thus entitled to workers' compensation benefits. Benavidez v. Sierra Blanca Motors, 1995-NMCA-140, 120 N.M. 837, 907 P.2d 1018, rev'd in part on other grounds, 1996-NMSC-045, 122 N.M. 209, 922 P.2d 1205.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — Denial of state prisoner's application for, or revocation of, participation in work or study release program or furlough program as actionable under Civil Rights Act of 1871 (42 USCS § 1983), 55 A.L.R. Fed. 208.