Oct. 21, 2023
I write as a citizen representative on the Beltrami County Jail Steering Committee in the hope that my perspective provides food for thought for this fall’s ballot question.
The question reads:
The Beltrami County Board of Commissioners has voted to construct a new county jail at an estimated cost of $80 million. Taxpayers have a choice as to how to fund the project. Shall Beltrami County establish a five-eighths or 0.625% sales and use tax to pay for constructing and financing a new jail?
A YES vote means that the majority of the costs would be financed through the sales and use tax which would remain in effect for 30 years or until the bonds are retired, whichever comes first.
A NO vote means that the majority of the costs would be financed through increased property taxes for 30 years or until the bonds are retired, whichever comes first.
Note: The question asks for permission to raise our sales tax so as to pay for the construction and financing of a new jail. Total costs for the project after 30 years are expected to be around $160 million, as the interest on the bonds will roughly match the construction costs. That number, $160 million, is rarely shared.
If I vote YES on the question and the sales tax is approved, the project will proceed as it stands: we will build a 242-bed facility on a nine-acre lot in the industrial park.
If I vote NO and the question fails — and if the community subsequently takes a stand in opposition to the size, funding and/or location of the proposed jail — there is a chance that the county board will alter its approach. I have been assured of this possibility by several members of the county board, two current and one former.
My conscience dictates: I will vote NO. Allow me to explain.
Nearly two years ago, the county board hired Justice Planners to create a Jail Project Needs Assessment and Feasibility Report. Justice Planners interviewed various stakeholders with regard to the jail and its operation. In one such interview, an anonymous Beltrami County judge, eager to support a new jail, commented, “You build it, and we’ll fill it.”
Think about that. A Beltrami County judge said of a prospective jail: “You build it, and we’ll fill it.”
Reading those words for the first time, members of the steering committee glanced about the room. Several spoke. They felt the judge’s comment could be harmful to “our efforts.” That it could convey the wrong sentiments.
So, despite the steering committee’s repeated pledge of transparency, it voted to remove the comment from the report. Well, they can erase the comment, but they can’t bury the sentiment.
And that’s my fear — that this idea lives on. The idea that if we simply lock up another hundred or more people we’ll be safe, that things will be good. And that’s why I persist in my efforts to downsize this project. Because if we build a 242-bed jail, we will fill it. And we’ll fill it largely with Native Americans; we have proven that.
We will fill 242 beds almost entirely with underprivileged, less-educated members of our community (see Beltrami County graduation rates ) because they struggle in school and have fewer opportunities, and because they lack the means to pay bail and must await trial in jail, separated from their families and work. Approximately 75% of our inmates are pre-trial.
Do any of us seriously believe there is no correlation between our county’s low graduation rates, high poverty rates and our number of inmates?
A year ago, as a community, we were invited to participate in a jail survey. The survey led with several questions regarding jail programming (e.g. How important is it that inmate reentry services aimed at reducing repeat offenses are offered at the County Jail? or How important is it to you that inmate re-entry services aimed at reducing repeat offenses are offered at the County Jail?).
These questions led us to infer that a new jail would offer new and improved programming. Not so. To the best of my knowledge, none of the $160 million is budgeted for new programming. A new facility would provide more space, and that’s good, but volunteers would continue to do the bulk of the programming: think Bible study and GED classes. But one can’t help but wonder: If this programming has been sufficient, why are we not seeing better results?
Many of you used the survey to write thoughtful comments regarding the jail and justice system. The steering committee looked at a few of those comments. Very few. Essentially, you were ignored.
Instead, the steering committee — and the county board — focused its attention almost entirely on the horse race between the options for a new or renovated facility. Much was lost in the process, including the various ways to reduce the jail population as suggested in the System Recommendations (p52-55) of the report.
· IGNORED: Ways to address the inmates' newly increased average length of stay (ALOS), far and away the principal driver in the projections for an increasing jail population.
· IGNORED: Developing a central receiving center “as an option other than jail” in which to care for individuals with mental health and substance abuse issues
· MORE CAN BE DONE: “Redesign and expand the Electronic Home Monitoring program... to between 8% and 33% of the population.”
· Why are we ignoring options that could directly impact our jail population, the crux of our problem? Could it be that the process has been contrived from the start?
· Why does the former sheriff insist on using short-term data to stoke fear over an increasing rate of crime, when the needs assessment — commissioned by you, the taxpayer, so as to obtain long-term, more reliable data — reports just the opposite? (p8-9 of the report)
· Why does the jail administrator say nothing as Justice Planners shares estimates with inflated costs for travel to and from out-of-county jails — estimates which greatly spike the costs for all but the new jail option in the survey — only to speak up after the vote to build a new jail, saying we don’t need to consider travel costs from a remote jail (to the courthouse) because electronic court hearings have minimized inmate travel?
· We all know money talks, so why is the company hired to lead the jail study process — including all committee work, the survey, outreach and more — now in line to oversee the construction process?
This is, indeed, a matter of justice.
—John Henningsgaard