Corrections Officer Ralph Lee Garcia

Ralph Lee Garcia

Corrections Officer Ralph Garcia was stabbed to death after being ambushed by nine inmates in the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility.

Officer Garcia was locking a housing door when the inmates started beating and stabbing him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Three suspects were charged and were not convicted until nine years later. One pleaded guilty and received a 29-year sentence. The suspected ringleader received a life sentence without the possibility of parole. One suspect was killed in a car fire in Bernalillo County.

In 2009, the New Mexico Department of Corrections presented Officer Garcia's family and the Guadalupe County Correction Facility with the Medal of Valor on the anniversary of the disturbance.

Corrections Officer Garcia had served with the Guadalupe County Sheriff's Department for eight months. He is survived by his wife and three children.