Medical & Mental Health in New Mexico (NMCD)
How health care works in New Mexico prisons — the Wexford Health Sources contract, how an inmate requests care, mental-health and substance-use services, and the grievance process.
Health care in New Mexico prisons
Health care in New Mexico prisons is provided under contract by Wexford Health Sources, a private corrections-health company, rather than by the New Mexico Corrections Department’s own staff. Wexford has held the NMCD medical contract since about 2019, and the contract was renewed effective January 7, 2025.
The contract covers a broad range of services: medical care, behavioral (mental) health, substance-use disorder treatment, and medication-assisted treatment across NMCD facilities. Routine medical, dental, and mental-health care is delivered at each prison’s on-site clinic, with higher-acuity care arranged as needed.
Routine care generally begins with a sick-call request submitted to the facility’s medical unit. Confirm the current sick-call procedure, any charges or co-pay, and any exemptions with the facility’s medical unit, because details change.
Mental-health and substance-use care
Mental-health and substance-use services are part of the same contract. NMCD’s contracted health services include behavioral health, substance-use disorder treatment, and medication-assisted treatment, delivered at individual prisons.
Some facilities house designated treatment programs. The Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Los Lunas, which serves as the men’s reception and diagnostic center, also houses a Mental Health Treatment Center and a Long Term Care Unit. Confirm the program and level of care available at a specific facility with that facility’s medical unit.
The grievance process
A health or treatment concern that cannot be resolved with the facility’s medical unit can be raised through the NMCD grievance process, the department’s formal procedure for inmate complaints. The procedure has internal review steps within the prison and the department.
NMCD’s grievance and health-care procedures are set out in the department’s policies, which are published on the New Mexico Corrections Department policies page. Confirm the current grievance steps and deadlines with the facility’s medical unit before relying on them.
Verify Before Acting
Sources
This page is compiled from the following publicly available sources. Policies change without notice — confirm current details with the facility before relying on them.