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See How Otero II Keeps its Community Strong

As part of the operational philosophy of the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico, the facility does all it can to reach out and be a part of the local community. Warden Dora Orozco explains.

“We have the community relations meetings. We go to the local community meetings, and I take my staff with me, so they know that we need to be involved in the community.”

The facility strives to serve the community in any way they can. They donate holiday gifts to the needy of the area, they donate blood and perform other services for local charities. They also have established a relationship with a local elementary school. Angelica Duque is the principal of Chaparral Elementary.

“We’ve been working with the Processing center at least for the last three years since I’ve been here at Chaparral Elementary. And they’ve been phenomenal as far as support for our community.

“I just want to say they always reach out to us. They contact us at the very beginning of the year, ‘we have school supplies for you all, we’re gonna work with you all for the food baskets, with the gifts.’ And they are always vested in our students. I feel that they are a huge partner with us and that they care about our kids.”

“We truly appreciate them, their support. They’re extremely friendly when they come to the school. We can just see that they’re genuinely interested in our kids and our families. And I know that the families express great gratitude.”

About Otero County Processing Center

The Otero County Processing Center is a dedicated detention center that provides detainees with quality medical care, legal resources and other resources.