Dora Castro is the warden at the Otero County Processing Center. “I get to talk to different people, to different staff with different personalities,” she says. “I have an amazing group of employees, and I feed off of that. So, that makes me who I am right now; it’s my staff.”
With the deep appreciation held for her staff, it was hard for Warden Castro to single anyone out when asked to do so for a staff profile a while back. But in the end, she chose Beatrice Rojo to bring the spotlight on for a moment – a standout with a long history of getting the job done. Employed as a captain when we caught up with her, Beatrice has since become the Quality Assurance Coordinator.

“Captain Rojo is just full of knowledge,” explains Warden Castro. “She’s very smart and knows how to talk to staff. She knows how to talk to auditors; she knows how to talk to the customer and give them the information that they need. Very knowledgeable with policies, procedures, and how to run this facility. She’s there; she’s my go-to person.”

“Everybody watches for each other,” states Beatrice, “and everybody takes constructive criticism when needed. We have a lot of different employees that have now become family.”

Away from work, Beatrice is caught up in her family’s energetic, dynamic life at home.

“I am a mother of four girls, three teenagers and one four-year-old. So, my life right now is – it’s crazy in and out. I go through the chaos at home, then I come here, and it’s home away from home.

“You know it’s been great. I’ve gotten the opportunity to take some courses through the Management Development Program. I got a chance to go and meet a lot of the corporate administration. I got classes and training from them. I have nothing but good things to say about MTC.”