CENTEGIX is looking forward to joining corrections leaders and professionals at the JAILCON26 Central Regional Conference, taking place August 18–20, 2026, at the Sheraton Overland Park Hotel & Conference Center and Overland Park Convention Center in Overland Park, Kansas.
Hosted by the National Institute for Jail Operations (NIJO), the 2.5-day conference will feature corrections-focused, legal-based training, networking opportunities, and an exhibitor showcase of products and services for the corrections industry. The program will bring together sheriffs, jail administrators, supervisors, officers, civilian personnel, medical staff, and other professionals committed to operating safer, more effective detention facilities.
Corrections professionals work in complex, high-risk environments where circumstances can change without warning. Protecting the people who perform this essential work requires strong leadership, clear communication, effective procedures, and safety technology that helps employees reach the right responders when they need assistance.
A New Model for Corrections Employee Safety in Tennessee
The themes shaping JAILCON26 Central are influencing how correctional agencies approach employee safety in practice.
The Tennessee Department of Correction recently announced that it will deploy the CENTEGIX Safety Platform® across all 10 state-operated correctional facilities. Every officer and staff member at those facilities will receive a CrisisAlert™ wearable panic button that allows them to request assistance from anywhere within the facility or on campus.
When an employee activates the wearable panic button, designated on-site responders will immediately receive the employee’s identity and precise location. Every alert will also be routed to TDOC’s new Correction Safety Intelligence Center in Nashville, where personnel will provide around-the-clock monitoring, add situational context, and help coordinate responses across facilities and agencies when needed.
The statewide deployment will give TDOC centralized, real-time visibility into officer-safety incidents across its state-operated facilities while providing each employee with a direct way to summon help.
“The men and women who work inside our facilities perform some of the most demanding public safety work in Tennessee, and their safety is my highest priority,” said TDOC Commissioner Frank Strada in the department’s official announcement.
The deployment reflects many of the themes attendees will explore at JAILCON26 Central: improving communication, strengthening situational awareness, protecting employees, and coordinating informed responses across teams and facilities.
Who is Speaking at JAILCON26 Central?
One of the conference highlights of JAILCON26 will be a keynote address from Colonel Allison Black, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), on Wednesday, August 19.
Known by the Taliban as the “Angel of Death,” Colonel Black spent her military career operating in some of the world’s most dangerous environments, where decisions carried life-or-death consequences. According to the JAILCON26 agenda, her experiences serving alongside military and special-operations personnel shaped a leadership philosophy grounded in courage, resilience, accountability, and commitment to others.
Her perspective should resonate with corrections professionals who regularly make consequential decisions while protecting their colleagues, the people in their custody, and the surrounding community. In these environments, effective leadership depends on preparing people to act, giving them the information they need, and creating systems that support a coordinated response when circumstances escalate.
Which Sessions Address Corrections Staff Wellness?
Employee safety extends beyond responding to immediate physical threats. It also includes recognizing the cumulative effects of demanding work and creating an organizational culture that supports the long-term well-being of corrections personnel.
Several JAILCON26 Central sessions will examine the relationship between leadership, workplace culture, and employee wellness:
- Burnout Is Not a Badge, presented by Willie Mae Jackson, MD, MA, will explore how leadership, organizational culture, and shared responsibility affect staff well-being. The session will address recognizing burnout, fostering resilience, building a healthier workplace culture, and supporting the long-term wellness of corrections professionals.
- The “Oxygen Mask Principle” of Leadership Wellness, presented by Karen Anderson, Ph.D., will examine how decisions made by corrections leaders influence employees’ mental health, development, and performance. It will also consider how overlooking leaders’ own mental health can affect employees and organizations.
These sessions reflect an important principle: protecting corrections employees requires both immediate safety measures and an organizational commitment to the people performing this challenging work.
Which Sessions Cover Communication and Coordinated Response?
Clear communication can influence how quickly an organization recognizes a developing incident, reaches the right personnel, and coordinates an effective response.
In From Radio Call to Real Response, Willie Mae Jackson, MD, MA, will discuss strengthening communication between correctional and mental-health personnel. The session will cover standardized protocols, referral pathways, multidisciplinary collaboration, earlier intervention, and approaches that balance security and therapeutic needs.
Communicating with Inmates, presented by Glenn Ercanbrack, will focus on strategic language and techniques corrections personnel can use to de-escalate conflict and encourage compliance.
Together, these sessions underscore the role communication plays in preventing incidents from escalating and improving coordination when help is required. Technology cannot replace professional judgment or effective procedures, but it can help close communication gaps by quickly connecting an employee’s request for assistance with actionable information for responders.
Which Sessions Cover Emergency Preparedness for High-Risk Situations?
Corrections personnel may encounter behavioral crises, medical emergencies, inmate disturbances, security breaches, and other rapidly developing situations. Preparing for those moments requires the ability to recognize warning signs, maintain situational awareness, communicate under pressure, and make informed decisions.
Sessions addressing these challenges include:
- High-Risk Minds, High-Risk Moments, presented by Willie Mae Jackson, MD, MA, will examine suicide risk and the risk of aggression among people experiencing psychosis or acute changes in mental status. The session will address behavioral warning signs, environmental risk factors, and practical application within real-world operational constraints.
- Conditions of Confinement: How to Improve Your Facility Using Case Law, presented by Wanda Rahman, will explore how courts evaluate conditions inside jails and how case law can inform everyday operations involving medical care, use of force, inmate safety, and overall living conditions. The session is intended to help facilities improve operations proactively and reduce legal risk.
- SWAT Leadership: How High-Performing Teams Make Decisions When Everything Is on the Line, presented by Matt Thomas, will apply leadership principles from elite law-enforcement teams to detention and corrections environments. The session will address situational awareness, high-trust teams, communication under pressure, and decision-making during disturbances, medical emergencies, use-of-force events, and critical security breaches.
These topics align closely with a central goal of modern corrections safety: helping personnel recognize threats, request assistance, and coordinate an informed response before an incident becomes more difficult to control.
Which Sessions Cover Using Incident Information in Safety Operations?
Information gathered during and after an incident can help correctional organizations identify risks, improve procedures, and prepare for future events.
From Incident to Insight, presented by Megan Kennedy, RN, CCHP, will examine how mortality reviews can support risk mitigation, litigation preparedness, and system-wide quality improvement. Participants will explore data collection, multidisciplinary analysis, and fact identification as part of meaningful post-incident evaluations.
In Bridging the Gap: Using Jail Intelligence to Enhance Public Safety, Judd Brungardt and Matthew Blumenthal, MA, representing JOCO DIG, will discuss the collection, evaluation, analysis, and dissemination of information in detention settings. According to the agenda, effective intelligence gathering can help facilities identify and mitigate potential threats affecting inmates, staff members, and the public.
Both sessions demonstrate that incident information becomes most valuable when organizations can turn it into insight and action. That includes understanding what happened, identifying where risks exist, and giving the appropriate personnel the information needed to improve future decisions.
See How CENTEGIX Supports Smarter and More Effective Correctional Officer Safety
On Wednesday, August 19, the JAILCON26 Central Exhibit Hall will give attendees an opportunity to explore technologies and services designed to make corrections work “safer, smarter, and more effective.”
To learn how the CENTEGIX Safety Platform can help correctional organizations give employees a direct way to request assistance and provide responders with precise information about who needs help and where they are located, schedule a meeting at JailCon26 with Nathan Teodoro, Regional Vice President, Government Sales, or stop by our booth, #803, during the event.
We look forward to connecting with corrections professionals, learning from the experiences shared throughout the conference, and discussing how safety technology can support the people who perform some of the country’s most demanding public-safety work.
Event: JAILCON26 Central Regional Conference
Dates: August 18–20, 2026
Location: Sheraton Overland Park Hotel & Conference Center and Overland Park Convention Center, Overland Park, Kansas
CENTEGIX booth: 803
Learn more about JAILCON26 Central and make plans to visit CENTEGIX during the conference.
