Curry commission approves jail X-ray

CLOVIS — The Curry County Commission broke in the new year by approving the purchase of new security equipment at the detention center during their first meeting Tuesday morning.

Mark Gallegos said the jail is in need of an advanced system to help screen new detainees for contraband. The new system would replace searches by staff with an x-ray machine and drastically streamline the screening process for new entries.

“The primary job of this will be able to reduce and minimize the amount of contraband that might make it into the facility,” Gallegos said. “Before this, detainees would go through the metal detector and then there were protocols in place with medical for any issues and now with any issues like that we’ll put them through the advanced screening tool and we’d be able to tell right away. It would be like going through TSA and an airport.”

Gallegos said the jail is limited by probable cause when it comes to searches, but could simply screen every new detainee with the new system.

The commission approved the purchase with a seven-year lease at $19,631.99.

Gallegos also provided a jail report, noting Curry County has begun housing detainees from other counties.

Gallegos said the detention center has been making good strides getting juvenile offenders enrolled in school, as well as getting them involved in Teen Court.

For the adult detention center, Gallegos said they’ve been making great strides with implementing a therapeutic community program for the female detainee population. He said those involved have been responding well.

Gallegos said part of his standards for detainees require them to be involved in the program to help with rehabilitation and the refusal to participate can affect various privileges, such as access to the commissary and phone calls.

The commission also provided a report on its annual tour of the jail last month.

Overall, the commission found no issues and is happy with the progress the facility has made over the past few years.

The commission was most impressed with the progress made for staffing the facility.

“It’s clean, near organized and all the officers seem to know what they’re doing and liking their jobs with a full staff. Stress levels seem very low,” said Commissioner Chet Spear. “We can attribute that a lot to the training programs Mark (Gallegos) has put in place.”

In other business at the meeting:

• Ben McDaniel was appointed as commission chairman for the year and Seth Martin took the position of vice-chairman.

• The commission received an update on the courthouse HVAC upgrade and renovation project, with Bryan Buchanan reviewing some recent findings.

Buchanan said a large part of the system needed to be remapped and in the process several units and thermostats were found to be defective.

Once those changes are implemented, a new monitoring system can be added.

• Keller Taylor updated the Mounted Patrol Arena Improvement project. Taylor said phase 1 is complete, which included concrete repair and sanding and painting on handrails, ramps chutes and stairs.

Work on phase 2 began last week, which will include replacement of tiles and repair work for the exterior of the cafe area and restrooms.

• The commission approved resolutions to comply with the New Mexico Open Meetings Act and confirmed new assignments for various Curry County committees and boards.