The Bismarck Tribune
RUGBY, N.D. — The state Corrections Department is transferring some prisoners from jails in Grand Forks and Devils Lake to the new jail here, which has gone through some rocky financial times.
The Lake Region Law Enforcement Center in Devils Lake and the Grand Forks County jail each will lose up to four inmates, according to Leann Bertsch, director of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, who describes the inmate relocation plan as a temporary fix.
The $7.6 million Rugby jail opened in September 2006 and ran into financial problems a year ago when it did not get enough prisoners to make ends meet, and stopped repaying loans. Jail Administrator Elaine Little said earlier this year that the situation was improving as the number of inmates at the North Central Correctional and Rehabilitation Center increased.
County jails get $60 per prisoner per day to house state inmates. The goal is help ease overcrowding in state prisons and to help ease the inmates back into society through such things as work release programs. Grand Forks currently houses an average of 12 state prison inmates, and Devils Lake 10 state inmates, Bertsch said.
Bret Burkholder, administrator of the Grand Forks County jail, said the loss of state prisoners could hurt his budget at a time when the facility is trying to rebound from a couple of years of heavy losses.
County Commissioner William Murphy said he also thinks it would be unfair to move prisoners to Rugby if they have family in the Grand Forks region.
Bertsch said the state always has advised county jails not to depend on state inmates to balance their budgets.
“We’ve always said ‘don’t count on them,’ because we don’t guarantee any number of state inmates to any facility,” she said. “We can project what might be out there, but sometimes, we have a minimal number out in the counties and sometimes we have more.”