The state of New Mexico would have to shutter two prisons, give early releases to up to 660 prisoners and lay off and furlough Corrections Department employees if Gov. Bill Richardson signs budget cuts approved by the Legislature, his office said Wednesday.

Richardson's office raised that grim possibility as his staff analyzes the impact of $253 million in spending cuts legislators passed during a special session last week to deal with a revenue shortfall.

His administration on Monday had said other cuts approved by the Legislature could mean the state Human Services Department would reduce children's health care, nutrition programs for seniors and programs for the developmentally disabled, if he were to sign the measures.

But lawmakers say they won't be blamed for decisions that are now up to Richardson.

"He wants it to seem like we're making the decisions," said House Minority Whip Keith Gardner, R-Roswell. "But he's making the calls where he wants to cut. He's making that decision."

The Corrections Department said that in order to meet $21 million in budget cuts, it would have to close the Roswell Correctional Center in Hagerman and the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility in Grants.

About 270 inmates are incarcerated at the state-operated Roswell facility, while about 590 are housed in the Grants facility, which is operated by the Corrections Corporation of America. The state would have to cancel its contract with the company.

The closings would result in some prisoners being moved to other facilities while up to 660 men and women could be released, the department said. Employees could be laid off, furloughed or moved to other facilities, the department said.

At the same time, letting inmates out early would mean that the department's Probation and Parole Division would have to reduce supervision of about 1,800 minimum- or low-risk offenders so employees could focus on supervising the early released offenders, the department said.

"This is a hard pill to swallow, but we don't have any other choice," Corrections Secretary Joe Williams said in a statement. "When I met with Governor Richardson yesterday, I told him that closing prisons is the only way we can significantly reduce our budget."

Several legislators said Wednesday that they still preferred their special session idea of cutting the budget evenly across the board, so that some departments, like corrections, wouldn't see cuts as big as 7.6 percent. They reiterated their opposition to Richardson's idea of not cutting education the same as other departments.

Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, said the Legislature did what it could during the session, as the state grappled with a projected $650 million budget deficit.

"(Richardson) tied our hands. He said we couldn't raise revenue or cut salaries, so what's going to happen is that something has got to give. He can't blame everything on us," Jennings said.

"He's probably looking for something to distract publicity from the State Investment Council," the senator said, referring to the recent resignation of investment officer Gary Bland amid a scandal in the office.

Still, Jennings and others said, it's unclear that Richardson would actually take steps to close the prisons, which Jennings said would be "really hard" on small communities like Roswell or Grants.

The governor has until Nov. 12 to act on the budget cuts.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog at www.greenchilechatter.com.