Gov. Susana Martinez says the top corrections official for New Mexico is retiring at the end of the month after nearly five years at the helm of the state's prison system.
Corrections Department Secretary Gregg Marcantel says he is leaving his job to spend more time with his ailing mother.
His retirement comes amid an especially tumultuous year for the department that included the escape of a convicted murderer and another violent felon from a prison van in March, and revelations that probation officers had not monitored a suspect charged in August in the assault and killing of a 10-year-old Albuquerque girl.
Those incidences were not mentioned in the governor's statement announcing Marcantel's resignation.
She says Marcantel had a three-decade law enforcement career.
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