June 10, 2021 at 1:12 p.m.
Average Cass County inmate population increases
Sheriff Tom Burch informed the county board Tuesday he began boarding inmates in Mille Lacs County in May. That jail is 150 miles from the Cass County seat in Walker, Administrator Robert Yochum noted.
Inmates have been housed in Cass, Crow Wing and Hubbard counties.
The first week of June, there were 45 Cass County inmates in Crow Wing County, 24 in Cass, 10 at Mille Lacs and six in Hubbard. When Crow Wing opened its new jail, Cass had a contract to guarantee using 60 beds beginning in 2007, but at that time, Cass did not need that many spaces. That contract was renegotiated in 2010 down to 40 beds.
The initial 10-year Cass-Crow Wing County contract has been extended to 2027.
Now, Burch will seek Crow Wing approval to re-expand Cass' contract to include more guaranteed beds to handle its rising needs, he told the board.
Should that fail, Burch will look at re-opening currently closed jail cell space in Cass' jail in Walker. However, because Cass' jail is older and less efficient, it would cost Cass more per inmate per day to house them in Walker than at Crow Wing's jail in Brainerd.
Boarding rates at Hubbard and Mille Lacs are also higher than Cass' contract with Crow Wing.
The first six months this year, Cass averaged 79 inmates per day, with a peak hitting 89 one day. This is up from an average of 71 inmates per day in 2014.
The board authorized Burch to sign an agreement with the state of Minnesota, which will enable the sheriff's department personnel to directly access the state's Court Data Services.
This will give the sheriff direct access to any federal, state or local court records or agencies and enable two-way information transmission.
The commissioners approved expending $280,324.60 to update the dispatch consoles to make them compliant with a 2016 deadline for upgrades.
They also approved a new Motorola service agreement through May 2016 for service on the 800 MHz radio system. The cost rose from $49,325.16 last year to $53,406.70 this year, partly due to the fact an additional communications tower was added to the county's system.
They approved an agreement between the sheriff and Moondance Jam Inc. for the sheriff to provide law enforcement services during Country Jam in June and Moondance Jam in July.
Moondance also provides security officers in addition to the sheriff's law enforcement for those concerts.
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