N.M. Const. art. XX, § 18
The leasing of convict labor by the state is hereby prohibited.
Comparable provisions. — Utah Const., art. XVI, § 3.
Work-release programs must necessarily provide, even if only implicitly, that any prisoners working for private enterprise must act of their own accord and, when a prisoner voluntarily participated in a work-release program and was injured while under the direction of a private business, he 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, aff’d in part, rev'd in part on other grounds, 1996-NMSC-045, 122 N.M. 209, 922 P.2d 1205.
Generally. — Under § 3528, 1897 C.L., superintendent of penitentiary, under direction of board of penitentiary commissioners, could hire out labor of convicts to the best advantage. 1909-12 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 200.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 60 Am. Jur. 2d Penal and Correctional Institutions § 170.
18 C.J.S. Convicts § 19.