Two signs that read "We build this country together" and "our families have no borders"

A New Phase in Civil Liberties Advocacy: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going

For decades, the ACLU of New Mexico has worked alongside communities to defend civil liberties and expand the promise of the constitution. Today, with fundamental freedoms under intensifying attack and the stakes for our democracy higher than ever, that work has never been more urgent.

Latest Press Release


CoreCivic Pays Settlement to Estate of 23-Year-Old Asylum Seeker Who Died in Torrance County Detention Facility

The case addressed the TCDF’s systemic failures in its mental health care and CoreCivic’s extreme negligence, which resulted in Kesley Vial’s tragic and preventable death.
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Stay informed on civil rights issues. Discover our latest actions and updates in the Press Release section.

Medication Denied

A woman was denied life-saving medicine by the New Mexico Corrections Department, so we sued.

By Katie Hoeppner

Medication Denied - Photo of a stethoscope

How America Disguised 65,000 Prison Beds

Alternatives to incarceration often replicate the same problematic technologies that fostered mass incarceration.

By ACLU National

Clean lawn and tidy oak trees in front of an apartment complex

President Biden Can Prevent Over 4,000 People From Being Sent Back to Prison

If President Biden allows thousands of people to be sent back to federal prison, he would be presiding over the fastest expansion of the federal prison population in history.

An empty cell block in a prison with tables and blue doors.

HCV Treatment in Prisons Today, Healthier Communities Tomorrow

Results of ACLU public records request reveal New Mexico is finally tackling the Hepatitis C epidemic

By Davida Gallegos

HCV Treatment in Prisons Today, Healthier Communities Tomorrow

The New Mexico Civil Rights Act could help stamp out sexual abuse in state prisons

For too long, qualified immunity has shielded bad actors from liability and prevented survivors of abuse from seeking justice. But we can change that.

By Lalita Moskowitz

For too long, qualified immunity has shielded bad actors from liability and prevented survivors of abuse from seeking justice. But we can change that.

New Mexico can no longer shirk responsibility to end for-profit detention

Allowing private corporations to profit off of bondage and suffering in our state has perpetuated a humanitarian crisis and cost taxpayers millions in lawsuits resulting from the rampant neglect and abuse in these facilities. It is both a moral and material failure for our state.

By Nia Rucker

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Virus spread in NM jails, prisons should have, could have, been avoided

For the past seven months, rarely has a day gone by that the ACLU hasn’t received a desperate call or email from someone who has a family member or loved one locked up in one of our state’s jails or prisons. They are mothers, fathers, siblings, spouses – all terrified that someone they love will get sick because our state has abdicated its responsibility to prevent the unchecked spread of a deadly virus inside its detention facilities.

By Lalita Moskowitz

COVID Prisons Jails

Fighting for the Forgotten: Working to Protect People Behind Bars in a Time of Pandemic

In fact, instead of improving public safety, COVID-19 has shown us that our addiction to incarceration is an urgent threat to public health. There is a clear path forward.

By Katie Hoeppner

Fighting for the Forgotten

Taking down a culture of sexual abuse in NM prisons

Lisa Jaramillo was excited to take up a job in maintenance at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in January of 2017. Whatever joy her job provided her quickly vanished.

By Katie Hoeppner

taking down a culture sexual abuse NM prisons