Gallup, New Mexico
The Setting
McKinley County sits in the Four Corners region of New Mexico, bordered by Arizona and adjacent to the Navajo Nation, the largest Native American reservation in the United States. The county population of approximately 73,000 includes residents of Gallup, the county seat, with about 20,000 people, and a large rural and reservation population without reliable internet, transportation, or proximity to services. The pretrial program launched in 2022 under the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts' statewide initiative, making McKinley County one of the first truly rural jurisdictions to implement. Staff are state employees and operations are state-funded, with supplemental grant funding for transportation and technology. The program serves between 150 and 200 active defendants per month with a manager, two officers, a program specialist, and a part-time administrative assistant.
The Challenge
McKinley County came to the statewide pretrial initiative with an existing compliance model and deeply established norms around supervision, fees, and responses to noncompliance. The new program operated on different principles: no supervision fees, no charges for drug testing or transportation, and a service referral rather than automatic revocation in response to a positive drug test. Navigating that transition required patience, consistency, and a long-term commitment to transparent data sharing. At the same time, clients faced significant geographic barriers: clay roads impassable in wet weather, no reliable cell signal in parts of the reservation, and no consistent transportation to court up to 100 miles away.
The Strategy
The pretrial manager documented everything from the start and maintained a consistent standard: sanction behaviors that are illegal and safety-implicating, not behaviors that are merely inconvenient or uncomfortable to stakeholders. Monthly reports went to every stakeholder, including dispatch, a recipient most programs overlook. The reports included data the state did not require: violation rates, drug test rates, and what happened after violations were filed. That transparency, distributed consistently over five years, built a common understanding of what the program was accomplishing and how.
For transportation, the program obtained a grant from the New Mexico Sentencing Commission covering a 100-mile radius, contracting with a local taxi company rather than relying on the county's limited public transit. When clay roads make door-side pickup impossible, drivers meet clients at the nearest gas station or store. When the grant funding was cut from $32,000 to $8,000, the program developed a prioritization framework to preserve the most critical trips, specifically district court appearances.
Justice Stations, computers placed in county libraries and tribal chapter houses, allow individuals to attend virtual court hearings by clicking a judge's icon on the screen. No smartphone is required. The stations were placed in chapter houses specifically because that is where people already go. Demand exceeded expectations. The program is working with the court's IT department to add virtual pretrial check-ins to the same kiosks for clients without home internet access.
“Drug users are still showing up. They're still coming to court. They're even admitting to us that they're using. So we have to give credit that they're trying.”
— Pretrial manager, McKinley County
What Made It Work
The pretrial manager credits the New Mexico Pretrial Executive Network, a monthly statewide meeting of all program managers, as essential to the program's development. The network provides a rapid problem-solving channel, shared policy templates, and a space to work through complex situations that isolated rural practitioners cannot navigate on their own. For programs implemented in communities with no nearby peers to consult, a practitioner network of this kind fills the gap that geography creates.
Hiring staff from correctional backgrounds who nonetheless operate with a service mindset contributed to the culture shift. Both pretrial officers came from the jail. Their credibility with law enforcement reduced friction, while their orientation toward service meant the program did not operate like probation. The combination proved effective and is worth considering when hiring for rural programs where law enforcement relationships are central to operational success.
Five years after full implementation, the program received a 98.3 percent score on its annual Administrative Office of the Courts audit. The statewide pretrial manager noted auditors had not previously seen a score that high. That outcome reflects the cumulative effect of consistent documentation, transparent stakeholder communication, and a supervision philosophy held firmly over time.
Considerations for Replication
Culture change in any community takes years, not months. Document outcomes from the beginning and distribute them broadly to all stakeholders, including those still developing their understanding of the program. Transparency sustained over time builds trust more effectively than any single persuasive conversation.
Transportation solutions in rural and tribal communities cannot assume any fixed infrastructure. Taxi contractors, flexible pickup locations, and a prioritization framework for limited funds are more reliable than bus routes or ride-share apps. Track usage data monthly; it supports future grant applications.
Justice Stations require community relationships to place and maintain. Getting permission to locate a kiosk in a chapter house is different from securing a jurisdictional collaboration agreement. Focusing on the access point first, without requiring any formal cross-jurisdictional arrangement, is a realistic entry point in communities where partnerships are still forming.
In the summary brief
Build layered, low-cost solutions to the transportation, distance, and technology barriers that drive failures to appear.
The county operates under some of the most difficult access conditions in the study. A transportation grant covering a 100-mile radius uses a taxi contractor, because public transit does not reach most clients, to carry clients to and from court appearances, pretrial check-ins, and behavioral health appointments; when clay roads become impassable, pickup points shift from the client’s residence to the nearest gas station or store. Justice Stations are court-administered computer kiosks installed in public libraries, the magistrate courthouse, and four Navajo Nation chapter houses. They allow individuals to join their judge’s virtual hearing by selecting the judge’s photo on screen, with no smartphone or broadband of their own required.
Also under Strategy 8
This project was supported by Grant No. 15PBJA-22-GK-03661-JAGT awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.