Ex-Inmate Searching For Prison Abuse Evidence Starts Digging

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A former inmate searching for evidence of abuse at a now-closed state penitentiary has started digging. Samuel Chavez revisited the site of the abandoned Penitentiary of New Mexico on Wednesday, shovel in hand, searching for evidence to prove his claims that the state conducted medical experiments on prisoners, tortured them and sold their organs and blood. The Department of Corrections has denied Chavez' allegations. Chavez fought a two-year court battle for the right to search the grounds for evidence he says he buried but on Wednesday his search came up empty. He says he plans to petition a judge to order the state Department of Corrections to give him access to other parts of the prison that were not available to him on Wednesday.