COUNTY ONE OF 42 LOOKING AT NEW JAILS

No Mower Countian should for a moment think the county is alone in
its jail-justice center saga.

In fact, there are 42 Minnesota counties presently studying expanding
or building new jail and justice center facilities.

That's what the Mower County Board of Commissioners and selected
staffers learned at the recent Association of Minnesota Counties'
legislative conference.

David Hillier, 3rd District county commissioner, said Tuesday the 42
jail and justice center issues did not include counties who have
attempted to solve issues of their own by building new facilities,
such as the recently opened Steele (3 years ago) and Freeborn County
(last year) jail and justice centers.

Ironically, both counties are presently shopping around the
availability of jail beds to other counties discussing how to address
their own jail over-crowding and district court security issues.

Craig Oscarson, county coordinator, said, "They (AMC lobbyists) told
us that part of the sales tax receipts can be used by counties for
the purchase of jail equipment and furnishings."

That may come as some consolation to taxpayers when they hear from
the Mower County Commissioners that a new stand-alone jail and
justice center in the green-field site proposed by the city of Austin
or the county's preferred site south of the Austin Municipal Airport
in Windom Township could cost $35 million or more.

"It (a share of sale tax receipts) would reduce the costs you are
contemplating there will be for a new jail or justice center if you
decide to build," Oscarson told the commissioners.

Short-term offenders, big expenses

Another "thorny" subject is the state of Minnesota's decision to send
short-term (180 days or less) offenders home to their counties of
residence to serve out their sentences.

That, in turn, was intended to relieve the state's own prison
over-crowding concerns.

According to Hillier, the commissioners learned at the AMC
legislative conference the state is reimbursing the county only $13
per day in per diem costs for housing short-term offenders in county
jails, while the costs are $55 or more in per diem alone.

"We have a serious problem here as far as housing prisoners is
concerned," Hillier said. "According to the last statistics, in 1988
there were 3,600 prisoner beds in Minnesota.

"Last year -- 2006 -- the number of adult beds in the state grew to
over 9,100," Hillier added. "That's why we have 42 counties
considering building new jails."

Hillier also had statistics about the state's three-year-old and
heavily criticized short-term offender program.

"Mower County housed 13 short-term offenders here for the state in
2003," he said. "There were 14 more in 2004, 12 in 2005 and 18 in 2006.

"That's basically over the capacity of the Mower County Jail we are
allowed today," Hillier said.

The Mower County Jail's capacity is 45 prisoners. However, that may
be reduced further, according to Mower County Sheriff Terese Amazi,
after the Minnesota Department of Corrections shuts down more
prisoner beds in the local jail, because the DOC does not believe it
is up to today's standards for housing prisoners.

Oscarson pointed to proposals to increase the per diem rate the state
will pay counties to house prisoners.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty is proposing reimbursing the counties $20 per
prisoner per day and the Minnesota Legislature's proposal is $33 per
prisoner per day, according to Oscarson.

However, the county coordinator also pointed out both proposals fall
far short of actual expenses incurred by counties to house the
state's prisoners.

Because counties must also pay for prisoners' medical expenses while
incarcerated, there is a health issue that counties must also face,
according to Hillier.

"Between 25 and 30 percent of the prisoners are on psychotropic
drugs, because they suffer from some form of mental illness," Hillier
said, "and that's another expense counties must bear along with the
costs to operate a jail."

The AMC legislative conference update from commissioner Hillier and
Oscarson ended at that point.

On Tuesday, the commissioners are slated to resume their discussion
of local jail-overcrowding conditions and the boarding-out of
prisoners at the conclusion of their regular county board meeting.