By C1 Staff
ALBUQUERQUE, NM — A woman who was remembered as a ‘tough but fair’ correctional officer at the Penitentiary of New Mexico passed away Friday in her home.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that Marcella Armijo, the first woman to attain the rank of captain in the New Mexico Department of Corrections, died of complications from pneumonia at the age of 64.
“Captain Armijo set an example for correctional leadership, especially for our younger female officers who have sought and currently seek promotion,” Corrections Department Secretary Gregg Marcantel said in a statement Monday. “Her service and commitment to our state’s safety remains valued and greatly regarded even in her death.”
Armijo joined the DOC in 1976 as a correctional officer, eventually filing a complaint with the state Human Rights Commission when she wasn’t given the same consideration for promotions as her male counterparts. She won in 1979.
She was later honored with the Trailblazer Award by the New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women.
Following the New Mexico Prison Riots, Armijo complained that there was no support for the correctional officers to help them deal with what they had witnessed.
“I’m mad because nobody helped us get through this. There should have been a debriefing, training, someone to help us process what we saw, what we experienced,” she said in a previous interview with the Albuquerque Journal. “We had to deal with those bodies. Oh, God, if you see the photos, it would give you an idea of what we had to go through.”
She was later diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in 1999; she eventually got psychiatric help and retired on disability in 2001. She kept photos of the riots, which were passed down to her niece.
“Marcy was always very particular about who she would let see those,” Sister Salome Martinez Lutz, Armijo’s niece, said. “She never wanted to throw them away, but she never wanted them exploited.”