Jail admin adds 'town hall meetings,' instructional courses

When you hear of inmates at the Curry County Adult Detention Center, you may not associate them with "town hall meetings" and instructional courses.

But those meetings and the courses have come to the CCADC under the direction of Administrator Mark Gallegos.

"We started the courses in February and since then detainees and inmates have completed a total of 980 individual courses," Gallegos said.

Gallegos said each person incarcerated receives a tablet to utilize to make phone calls and for video visitation "with their loved ones." Those detained pay for the phone time but the instructional program called Edobo is free.

Gallegos said Edobo is in use in jails and prisons across the country.

"The most popular classes are GED prep, food safety training, and parenting," Gallegos said. "Each class generates a certificate or transcript."

Gallegos said other courses include life skills such as prep for job interviews, interviewing, resume' writing; classes for mental health including anger management, alcoholics anonymous, parenting classes and classes designed to help with a transition into the food and restaurant industry.

Gallegos said the "town hall" meetings are intended to improve communication in the pods of the detention center.

"A pod holds 24 to 32 detainees," Gallegos said. "This is where I give information to our detainees."

Detainees are individuals who are being detained while awaiting trial, according to Gallegos. Inmates are those who have been found guilty of crimes and are serving sentences.

Gallegos said the courses, the "town hall" communications, a psychiatric nurse practitioner on staff and a licensed social worker on site are all part of a goal he has:

Find ways to reduce the number of those who were once jailed from coming back: recidivism.

"Of our detainees/inmates who are released, 70% will be back within 90 days," Gallegos said.

Gallegos believes the main cause of recidivism is lack of services in the community once someone is released from the jail.

"It's a nationwide problem," Gallegos said. "As a community we have to offer some programming geared to those individuals."

Given the opportunity, Gallegos has advice for those detainees/inmates leaving the CCADC.

"When you leave here there's an opportunity to change," Gallegos said. "Change comes from better choices and decision making."

Tuesday, Gallegos appeared before the Curry County Commission as he always does to give his report from the CCADC.

After he spoke, County Commissioner Dusty Leatherwood praised Gallegos' work at the detention center.

"I spoke because Gallegos strikes me as a man doing good for others," Leatherwood told The News on Friday.

Leatherwood said he was on a tour of the CCADC with Gallegos and Leatherwood was impressed.

"I see people in and out of jail, Gallegos supports people who want to get better," Leatherwood said. "If you offer something to detainees and they take it, it's a step in the right direction."