Jail boss back after year abroad

CLOVIS - Working counter-terrorism efforts from a Navy base in Africa and operating a jail in rural New Mexico may not seem to have much in common. But "leadership doesn't change," Mark Gallegos told The News on Tuesday.

The Curry County Adult Detention Center's administrator returned last week from almost a year away on military service with the Naval reserves, much of which time he spent with a riverine squadron of small boats out of Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa.

Assisting there in maritime security, Gallegos said he was in charge of 10 boat crews in "making sure our big ships have security" in the Gulf of Aden, which also borders Yemen, Somalia and Ethiopia.

Gallegos said he was "glad to be back" in his role in eastern New Mexico, which was held on an interim basis by assistant CCADC Administrator Jay Alaniz. Gallegos returns to a staff with that much more experience in running the facility, jail renovations forthcoming early in the new year and a slightly lower average inmate population than when he left.

"Prior to me leaving, we had a fairly new leadership team," Gallegos said in an interview. "(Since then) our leadership team has progressed in knowledge of different operations and standards of operation."

That will be helpful when the facility's accreditation comes up again for renewal in about a year, at which time the jail has to meet 190 mandatory standards on medical, mental health and security service, among other "process indicators."

He's excited about the new sally port entrance, medical area and new recreation yards for female inmates. Gallegos said he's especially looking forward to technological updates like voice recognition for inmate phone calls and video visitation. The latter can spare family members the occasionally resource-intensive process of physically seeing their loved ones in jail.

That's part of "customer service," which he said was "paramount when you come into the facility." Gallegos said he emphasizes professionalism and a hands-on approach to jail administration, walking through the facility regularly.

"I think even the detainees got excited when they saw me back," he added.

The facility averages 200 detainees per day, of which five or six are with the Juvenile Detention Center. That's a little lower than the average of 215 at this time last year, Gallegos said, and lower yet than a couple of years earlier when he saw the population "up in the 230s and 240s."

The jail is equipped for 265 detainees and maintains a staffing of about 10 officers at night and 15 or 16 during the day. Gallegos said he intended to "aggressively recruit in our community" to fill 12 vacancies for detention officers.

Gallegos has lived in eastern New Mexico since 2015 and worked as CCADC's administrator since early 2016. After a year away he said he is "protected" from being called back for service another five years and intends to stay for good in the area, where he has his home and family.

Asked if he could wave a magic wand and have anything he desires for the jail, Gallegos said that wasn't necessary.

"I think we have everything in place," he said.