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| New jail, but no staff |
| By argusleader.com |
| Published: 09/29/2009 |
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Stimulus dollars are going to build a $25 million adult jail on the Rosebud Reservation, but the money for properly operating it isn't guaranteed at this point. Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin announced last week that the tribe had received a grant under the Recovery Act Correctional Facilities on Tribal Lands program to build the new jail. It will replace a 30-year-old, 66-bed facility in Rosebud described by tribal Chairman Rodney Bordeaux as "a total mess." "The maintenance has been very terrible," Bordeaux said. "The walls are cracking. The air conditioner breaks down some days. Replacing this jail is long overdue." What the tribe envisions springing from the ground west of Mission, near the Ring Thunder community, will have 200 beds. It will offer educational opportunities, counseling, and alcohol and suicide prevention programs. It will emphasize value-based cultural teachings and cultural preservation - none or little of which is offered now. But if that's the dream, the reality still remains that hiring staff to run programs and a facility with three times the beds of the previous one is going to take more dollars. Michael Jandreau, chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, understands how difficult that can be. Three years ago this September, his tribe opened a new $13.5 million, 72-bed jail in Lower Brule. Initially, the tribe had difficulty finding enough trained and certified officers to man it. Today, they still don't have the juvenile side of the new facility open. "We still are having a hard time with the funding being provided so we can get enough people hired to take care of the juveniles," Jandreau said. "Our juveniles are being sent away to various places, to Kyle and up to Standing Rock. And they shouldn't have to go to those places." Read More. |
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