Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Prison and jail capacities in North Dakota are reaching their limit, and according to State’s Attorney Ashley Lies, it’s impacting sentencing decisions for people committing crimes in Eddy County.
“It makes our offices look bad,” said Lies. “It makes law enforcement and state’s attorneys look bad, because people assume that we’re not doing our jobs when they see somebody not going to jail or getting a jail sentence terminated.”
Of particular concern to Lies are the county jails in Devils Lake, Jamestown and Rugby N.D., which typically house Eddy County’s inmates and have been limited in their ability to accept more occupants.
Not knowing why these correctional centers are failing to meet the demand for prison beds, the Transcript conducted its own investigation. Upon request, the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR) supplied data regarding prison and jail capacities before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The data shows that N.D. prisons slashed their capacity by as much as 40 percent last year, which had a knock-on effect for local jails. In the midst of a pandemic, the Burleigh County Detention Center and the Cass County Jail saw their populations skyrocket by 39 percent and 86 percent, respectively.
Closer to home, the Lake Region Correctional Center (LRCC) in Devils Lake, which houses the majority of Eddy County’s inmates, saw its population nearly double from March of 2020 to March of 2021.
“While not the only factor, a contributing factor was that the DOCR instituted their COVID Mitigation plan at the end of March in 2020,” explained LRCC administrator Rob Johnson. “That plan effectively suspended admissions of inmates into the DOCR facilities for a short time ... This caused a significant backlog into the county jails.”
Johnson added, “The DOCR did obtain and appropriate COVID funds to pay for those extra days in the county facilities, so it wasn't the counties who had to pay for those days. That did nothing to help with our crowding issue during a pandemic though.”
Overcrowding is perhaps the worst problem to have during a global pandemic, but that’s exactly what multiple county jails across the state are dealing with. And though prison capacities have somewhat rebounded since last winter, pandemic protocols continue to put additional strain on the justice system.
Michael Graner, administrator of the Heart of America Correctional and Treatment Center (HACTC) in Rugby, which also holds Eddy County inmates on occasion, explained how the pandemic is impacting their facility.
“We continue to have COVID mitigation protocols in place, which require that all new arrestees and transfers into the facility must quarantine 7-10 days before being placed in the general population,” explained Graner. “This practice, though proving effective, really hampers the ability to drive up our daily population.”
With jails backlogged and overcrowded across the state, one would hope they at least have enough staff to cope with the additional strain. However, maintaining staff has long been a struggle for county jails, never more so than during this pandemic.
As was recently reported by the Transcript, the LRCC had staffing issues so severe that they were issued an “order of non-compliance” by the DOCR in August, which has forcefully limited their capacity to less than 50 until their staffing issues are resolved. And they aren’t the only facility in our region with this problem.
“Our current [average daily population] is a result of staffing issues,” said HACTC administrator Michael Graner. “So ultimately, staffing and COVID are having the greatest impact on our inmate numbers.”
In other words, our region’s county jails are overcrowded, understaffed and bogged down in pandemic protocols, ultimately allowing some offenders to walk away with reduced sentences.
“It affects our sentencing decisions, unfortunately,” said State’s Attorney Lies. “In cases that are minor like a ‘driving under suspension,’ where we may have sent someone to jail, if we know that there’s not a bed for them, we can’t do that.”
Lies also explained the struggle of balancing jail time for individuals with minor infractions and those with more serious charges, such as aggravated assault. With limited capacity, beds must be prioritized for keeping the most dangerous offenders off the street, forcing judges to utilize “creative sentencing” to administer justice.
Further, the recent surge in COVID-19 infections is causing concern that these issues may get worse before they get better.
“Honestly, since COVID first started, when we had to limit people in jails and wait for testing and things like that, I don’t think we’ve bounced back,'' explained Lies. “And if this Delta variant continues, I guess we’re potentially going to see worse problems.”