LOCKDOWN CONTINUES AT PRISON

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The lockdown at the Southern New Mexico Correctional
Facility continued Tuesday while investigators sought evidence relating to
the strangulation of two Albuquerque men last week.

The bodies of Rolando Garza, 23, and Frank Castillo, 32, were found March
23 at the prison west of Las Cruces. Both inmates allegedly were members of
a prison gang.

"The investigation of course is ongoing," state police Sgt. Royleen
Ross-Weaver said, adding that last week's preliminary autopsies indicating
both men were strangled have been verified.

Gerges Scott, state Corrections Department spokesman, said the lockdown has
now extended a week and a day.

"The lockdown is still under way because the investigation is continuing,"
Scott said Tuesday afternoon in Santa Fe.

He had said last week that the inmates' deaths were the "result of an
internal power struggle over the prison drug trade, extortion and territory
within members of the same prison gang."

Investigators believe the men were killed between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. when
other inmates were released into the housing unit of their pod area.

It will be weeks before the bodies can be fully tested for drugs.

Garza was serving an eight-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter related
to a drive-by shooting. Castillo was serving a five-year sentence for
robbery and for being a habitual offender.