Q&A: Jail administrator talks return to position

Editor’s note: This is one in a continuing series of interviews with local officials. Mark Gallegos is back in his position of jail administrator for the Curry County Detention Center after a recent military deployment.

Q: You recently returned from military deployment. As much as you can, talk about your military commitment and what you were doing on this latest mission. 

A: I am in the Navy Reserves as a Naval officer. I was activated to active duty from Aug. 4, 2023, to June 21, 2024, under the Operation Spartan Shield Operations.

I was an officer in charge of security forces and antiterrorism force protection for an air base in the Middle East. 

Q: Any idea when you might be deployed again?

A: I will not deploy again as this was my last deployment to close out my military career … I only have a year and a half left to retire from a 30-year career as both an enlisted sailor and a Naval officer. 

Q: You’ve been deployed several times now while working as the Curry County jail administrator. How does the jail operate when you are away? Do you feel like everything is in good hands?

A: This was my third military deployment in five years, and I served in Djibouti Africa twice and the Middle East with the Coastal Riverine Squadron …

During my most recent deployments, our assistant detention administrator, Joe Alaniz, filled my position … and was tasked with the overall management and leadership of the entire Curry County Detention Center operations. 

I have applauded (Alaniz) and our team while I was on deployment for an excellent job in maintaining our operational standards. 

Q: You’ve long been an outspoken advocate for mental healthcare, especially as it relates to crime. Talk about the jail’s ability to house mentally ill criminals.

A: Curry County and all detention centers across the nation are mandated to provide mental health services to any individual who is booked into our facility with criminal charges.

I have a passion with my job for Curry County and I have always been an advocate to ensure that individuals who are booked into the Curry County Detention Center have access to care, continuity of care, clinical services, and emergency services as it relates to individuals who have a mental health illness. 

Our detention center is somewhat of a city or town that has the capability to provide mental health programs in person and evidenced based mental health courses with our detainee tablets that have over 2,000 courses for our detainee population. 

We live in a time where our operations have changed from conditions of confinement to having to be well rounded above and beyond security and we have shifted to additional duties of being care givers and or providing social services to our detainees who are either in a crisis straight from our community and or detainees who need to be referred to wrap around services in our community. 

Overall, we have the capability to provide these services in the detention center, and if we are not capable of providing acute care, we will consult with our mental health team, attorneys, and the judge who presides over a case to refer to the appropriate level of care. 

Overall, our main goals in a detention center are to provide the care, custody, and control for every detainee and ensure the public safety of our community. 

Q: What do you know about the status of the planned Behavioral Health Center planned for Clovis? Any idea when it might be in operation? How might that impact jail populations across the region?

A: I have attended several meetings in regard to the Behavioral Health Center planned in Clovis.

I believe that the overall operations would be beneficial for our jail operations as it relates to this planned center.

It would provide a detoxification center, triage for individuals who have behavioral health and mental health issues, and/or an inpatient and outpatient setting to treat this population who suffer from mental health illness.  

Most of all, having a program in our community would be beneficial and we would be able to refer individuals who have mental health issues for the appropriate care and by doing so, this would assist our jail operations tremendously. 

With our current operations, detention centers across the nation are having to manage a crises population in a jail setting, which has overwhelmed many facilities.

Q: It has been four years now since the jail was renovated. Anything you wish had been done differently? Is everything working as expected? Did taxpayers get their 13 million dollars’ worth?

A: Now that we have had the opportunity to reflect back and study our detention operations with our most recent jail renovations, I believe that this was a necessity and we were able to meet all jail operational standards with an excess of over 200 jail standards to be able to obtain an accreditation with our detention center in the state of New Mexico … (W)e have demonstrated best practices in all areas of security operations and, most of all, it aided in meeting detention standards with our physical plant operations.

I believe that our taxpayers did get their monies’ worth, and we are very thankful for the approval for this project.  

— Compiled by Landry Sena, The Staff of The News