Jail Con 2024 welcomes Mobile in carnival style

MOBILE, Alabama (WKRG) – Hundreds of correctional officers and sheriffs from across the Southeast are in Mobile for the 2024 Jail Con conference hosted by the National Institute for Jail Operations.

“We provide the best training in the country on what is required to operate a constitutionally secure facility,” said Tate McCotter, executive director of NIJO.

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This year marks the first time that Mobile has hosted the conference, and the Mobile County Sheriff's Office decided it was only right to give area visitors a taste of what Mobile is really all about.

“I mean, we are the birthplace of Carnival,” said Lt. Keenisha Wallace of the Mobile County Metro Jail.

At the conference, officers will attend training sessions to learn about the exact rights of prison inmates under the constitution, including how to ensure the safety of prisoners, what grievances they have, what religious freedom they have, and what food and medicine they receive.

McCotter said the biggest problem he sees in the prison system is the progressive deterioration of inmates' mental health.

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“Prisons have become a dumping ground for the mentally ill,” McCotter said.

According to McCotter, mental illness is only one of the main causes of prison overcrowding.

“When the population exceeds the limits of its norm, it can create a lot of problems,” McCotter said.

Jail Con 2024 ends on Friday.

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