Imperial County Corrections Corporal Earns Telmate Hero Award for Excellence in Technology Innovation
MAY 12, 2017 IMPERIAL COUNTY, EL CENTRO, CA – Today Telmate, a leader in inmate communications, recognizes Corporal Juan Carlos Galindo of the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office as the Telmate Heroes Award recipient for Spring, 2017. The Telmate Heroes Award recognizes exemplary performance in the field of law enforcement and corrections, combined with the use of innovative technologies.
The dedicated 11-year corrections veteran, and son of parents who are educators, said he chose his profession because it was an opportunity for him to fulfill a personal obligation to serve the community he was raised in. As a corrections corporal, his two most important goals are: professionalism and “working to improve jail operations for a safer environment for our staff and for our inmate population.”
A Telmate customer since 2015, he relies on Telmate technology as their inmate communications system, including wireless tablets, and the facility’s phone, video visit and messaging system, to find new ways for inmates and facility staff to benefit, while providing security and control over the expanding facility and protecting the local community.
For Galindo, Telmate technology is crucial in helping him accomplish his mission by facilitating the reduction of staff time on inmate-related tasks. “It frees up a lot of our staff when they’re not wrapped up in intensive tasks, giving them the time to effectively manage and engage with our inmate population, including addressing their needs and issues. If inmates see you’re more responsive to them, it builds confidence in both the population, and staff.”
Prior to this technology, observed Galindo, his staff was very wrapped up with inmate visitation schedules, which required them to go through at least seven steps of inmate transport; from physically pulling inmates from housing pods, to placing them into visitation booths. With Telmate video visitation, it has eliminated most of the movement and staff time associated with moving bodies and bringing the public in.
“Also, a good percentage of our federal inmates come from Mexico, so it’s easier for them to stay in contact with their friends and family, without having them travel all the way down to Imperial County, spend money on food and gas and possibly lodging, when they can stay home and have a remote visit with their friends and family.”
Additionally, all the facility’s request and grievance forms that were previously done on paper are now submitted digitally on Telmate tablets and responded to by staff through the Telmate web-based administration system, which streamlines the process so they are answered quicker–drastically reducing response time.
“Tablets have been going well,” said Galindo. “Our population takes care of them because it’s a privilege and inmates love messaging and photo sharing on them.” According to the corporal, messages and photos give inmates something to look forward to, while benefitting the facility by cutting down on physical mail with this digital alternative.
In his spare time, Corporal Galindo enjoys being involved with his kid’s school and sports, attending and watching professional sporting events, and the occasional cigar.
The Telmate vision is to create secure technology that empowers inmates to break the cycle of recidivism, while protecting and serving facilities and their communities. For more information about the Telmate Heroes program or to nominate your own hero, please visit www.telmate.com/heroes.
About Imperial County Jail:
Imperial County Correctional complex is headquartered in El Centro, California, and houses approximately 500 inmates. The County is in the process of expanding and improving their facilities with a 274 bed expansion that will open in 2018. The ICSO vision, that they are well on the way to achieving, is to be the leading Public Safety Agency through progressive, innovative law enforcement services. The ICSO is an agency that is committed to professional service and protection.
About Telmate:
Telmate is a leading provider of secure corrections and community corrections solutions including phone, tablet, visitation, messaging, education and entertainment content, corrections applications, investigator tools and GPS monitoring. Telmate’s cutting-edge platforms are deployed in over 300 correctional facilities in the U.S. and Canada. Telmate is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with an employee presence nationwide. To find out more about Telmate, visit www.telmate.com.
