Come on down to the Sheriff’s Office for our annual Night To Unite on August 7th. from 5:00-7:00PM. You’ll have the opportunity to interact with law enforcement officers and check out some of the equipment and tools we use everyday to keep the citizens of Hubbard County safe. Members of the Posse Unit, Boat & Water Patrol, SWAT/ERU Team, Explorers Program, ATV Patrol, K-9 Unit, Sentence to Serve, Corrections and Communications will be on hand to answer questions or just visit. Park Rapids Police, North Ambulance and the Park Rapids Fire department will also be on hand.
There will be a K-9 demonstration, drunk goggles demo, a dunk tank and food will be served as well.
Hope to see you there!
The first full week in May has been designated National Correctional Officers Week and like my post for National Public Safety Telecommunications Week I’m just going to link to my post from last year. Not because I’m lazy, well maybe a little because of that, but mostly because I don’t think I can say it any better than I did last year.
It’s a tough, dangerous, thankless job and I count myself lucky to work with the folks that I do. Thanks to my fellow correctional officers! I appreciate the work that you do.
With all the talk lately about whats going to go on the second floor of the Law Enforcement Center I thought I’d take the opportunity to debunk a common misconception. The jail as it was built was never meant to house inmates in the second floor space where Social Services (or some other agency) will ultimately reside. I’m not sure where that came from but one look at the space and you can tell that it is not, nor was it ever intended for the secure detention of inmates. I was working in the old jail during the design phase of the new facility but wasn’t in on any of those discussion so I can only imagine that this notion might have come from one of the early, preliminary building designs.
The second floor as it exists today was clearly designed for office space. Jail construction typically doesn’t include large windows, for obvious reasons, which this space has lots of. Nor does jail construction typically include open, exposed ceilings like you see in the photo.
2nd floor office space
Take a look at the Maximum Classification housing unit photos in the Jail Tour and you can see that the type of construction on the second floor is nothing like how an actual jail is built. In our facility the housing units have skylights in the day rooms but don’t include any windows at all (the two recreation rooms do have windows). You’ll also see that the ceilings in the jail are concrete beam construction and totally different than the exposed steel construction over the second floor space. Granted the 2nd floor is unfinished space and the photos of the jail were taken after completion but the difference is still pretty obvious. Lastly, drywall isn’t used in a jail, again for obvious reasons. In the above photo, however, you can see lots of drywall. Clearly this space was never intended for jail space.
Two of the housing units in our jail do have a second tier mezzanine complete with finished and inmate ready cells and perhaps thats where the misconceptions come from.
Another thing I hear quite often is that we built too big of a jail and now we don’t have enough inmates to fill it. The implication and misconception here being that the planners over estimated our local need. My understanding is that the jail was built for the future and the decision was made to build big enough in 2005 so that the county wouldn’t have to face the overcrowding issue every few years. We now have a jail that will meet our needs for the foreseeable future. For more info on the whole design and building process see my History Of The New Law Enforcement Center post from last August.
There may also have been hope that surrounding counties that were in the same predicament as Hubbard in terms of over crowding, would want to house their excess population in our jail and for a while after we first opened that was in fact what happened. Crow Wing County then opened their new facility in Brainerd and shortly thereafter the new Tri County Correctional facility opened in Crookston. In the space of just a couple years an area that had a shortage of jail space now had an adequate supply.
I hesitate to quote myself but I’m going to close this post with this (from my 2011 Year In Review post):
Corrections and jail facilities are infrastructure and are no different then the highway department or a municipal public works department. You can’t have law enforcement with out jails and you can’t have a civil society where citizens are free to engage, without fear, in the daily activities of a free and open free-market democracy without law enforcement and jails.
National Public Safety Telecommunications Week is April 8th – 14th so it’s the time of year again when we honor the dispatchers that work hard at keeping us all safe. I can say without hesitation that the dispatchers I work with are some of the finest people I’ve ever known. They are amazing people that do amazing work.
Instead of trying to rewrite my blog post from 2011, which I thought was pretty good, I’m just going to link to my post from last year. It’s worth reading again.
Thank you Vicki, Michelle, Pam, Heather, Kara, Karol, Emily, Alycia, Sharon, Ashlan and Jon.
Lest ye think I’m some sort of statistician I’m not, but since I brought up stats in my last post I thought I’d run with that theme, run a few reports and see what the jail population is doing in comparison to last year. In terms of Average Daily Population (ADP) we are up substantially from 2011 in January and February. If my iPhone [1] did the math correctly, our January 2012 ADP was up 46 percent and our February ADP was up 35 percent. The March 2012 ADP was up a modest 20 percent.
1st Qtr. 2011 ADP vs 1st Qtr. 2012 ADP:
| Month | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 28 | 43.3 |
| Feb | 28.5 | 37.9 |
| March | 29.8 | 34.6 |
The increases in ADP is are due partially to an increase in arrests and partially to the HCDC housing inmates from other counties. We seem to be housing substantially more for Becker County this year than last. I’ll leave it to you the readers of this blog to determine if thats good, bad or none of the above. I can tell you that the jail has been an incredibly busy place the last four or five months and those of us that work here aren’t surprised at all by those numbers. I can also tell you that we are working very hard just trying to keep up.
[1]↩ I’m embarrassed [2] to say that without the help of a sweet iPhone app by the name of Soulver [iTunes App Store link], I have no doubt I would’ve made a mess of the math. I’m still not sure I did it correctly. If anyone wants to correct my math feel free do do so in the comments. You won’t hurt my feelings.
[2]↩ Let this be a lesson children: pay attention to your math teacher (all your teachers for that matter) or you’ll end up like me having to go to jail five days a week. 
Check out the stats underneath the photo of the Detention Center to the right. I can’t guarantee they’ll always be one hundred percent accurate because I’m not going to go into work on my days off just to find out how many inmates we have in custody. I will, however, try to remember to update them every day that I do work. I’m also going to investigate options to populate this data automatically so that I don’t have to remember anything.
I often get asked what it’s like being an inmate in the Hubbard County Detention Center. Having never been an inmate myself I can’t speak with first person knowledge but as someone that works in the jail I think I can provide some insight.
As a newly arrested inmate or someone that is reporting for a sentence your first stop will be Booking.
Your First Stop
During the booking process you’ll be searched, changed into jail issued orange clothing, your property will be inventoried and bagged up and we will gather demographic data that you are required by law to provide.
First impressions are very important. If you treat us respectfully and cooperate during the booking process we will treat you respectfully and your stay at the HCDC will be much less unpleasant. If you choose to be disrespectful, act belligerently or assaultive toward us or if you’ve come into our facility under the influence of alcohol or drugs you will likely find yourself in one of the holding cells shown along the right hand side of the above photo. These are special jail cells designed to minimize the risk of injury to an inebriated inmate that a normal cell might present but they also serve as a more controlled housing unit allowing better management by staff of agitated, violent and out of control inmates. They are furnished with the basics but are not a fun place to be. Holding cells are monitored by camera 24 hours a day.
A typical holding cell
Newley arrested inmates will typically stay in a holding cell until they appear in court which is usually the next day. Court can choose to hold an inmate under sentence (for probation violations), release the inmate on their own recognizance, or set bail. If the inmate is held or bail is set Corrections Officers will classify [1] that person to determine their custody level which will in turn determine where they are housed. Once we’re sure the person is free of alcohol and/or mood altering chemicals the inmate will be moved to the appropriate housing unit. Sentenced inmates that are reporting to do their jail time will typically be classified and moved to the appropriate housing unit the same day. You may or may not have a cell mate with which you’ll have to share a 10 by 7 foot cell that includes 2 bunks, a toilet and and a sink. Hope you’re not modest.
Once placed in a housing unit your typical day starts with medication pass at 06:30 and then at approximately 07:00 all inmates are let out of lockdown to receive and eat breakfast. After breakfast you’ll be required to clean your individual cell as well as help clean the common day room. TV’s and phones aren’t turned on until the housing unit passes inspection by a Corrections Officer. After inspection you might make a court appearance, watch TV, make phone calls, use the recreation room and participate in programs and other activities until 11:00. You can also take advantage of Correctional Health Services during certain days of the week. At 11:00 all inmates are locked down into their individual cells.
At 12:00 lunch is served and inmates are let out of their individual cells. Meals are nothing to write home about but they aren’t too bad and do meet the nutritional requirements mandated by the Minnesota Department of Corrections [2].
Afternoons are similar to mornings: dayroom activities, programs and court appearances. Visits with attorneys, social services and clergy happen throughout the day. At 4:00 you’ll once again be locked down until supper. Supper is served at 5:00 and at 5:30 you are locked down for shift change. At 6:30 you are let out into your day room again and can take advantage of evening programs. You’ll be locked down again at 10:30 and stay locked in your individual cell until morning.
Housing Unit Day Room
If you are sentenced your day would look a little different. Minnesota statute allows that a sentenced inmate “if required to labor, has labored with diligence and fidelity”. Sheriff Aukes strongly believes that an inmate convicted of a crime and sentenced to jail should work and give something back to our county. I can’t speak for everyone that works here but I certainly agree with this philosophy and I think most staff agree as well. You may be assigned to work in a number of different areas in the Detention Center as well as on Hubbard County’s Sentenced To Service crew. You’ll start work at anywhere from 7:30 to 8:30 and your work day will end at around 5:00. You may also be assigned to work in the Detention Center laundry and/or washing Sheriff’s Office vehicles and this work continues into the evening hours.
Corrections Officers inspect cells everyday to make sure inmates are keeping them clean and hygienic, aren’t damaging anything and to look for contraband. Contraband is anything not allowed in the jail but can also be items allowed in the jail that have been altered from their original state. Obvious items considered contraband are weapons that have been fashioned from jail issued property, “hootch” and items that have been smuggled in. Possessing too much of a jail approved item like sheets, towels, etc., is also considered contraband. Something as innocuous as a packet of pepper can be considered contraband if you are found to be hoarding it because in large quantities pepper can be used as a weapon.
In addition to the daily inspections Corrections Officers will “Shake down” a housing unit on a random but regular basis in order to find anything that inmates aren’t allowed to have. During a shake down inmates in the unit are moved to a different area of the jail, usually a recreation area or the library. Corrections Officers will then go through every cell as well as adjacent day rooms, searching for contraband and for damage to county property. If you are found to have contraband in your cells or in your possession you will face serious disciplinary consequences as well as additional criminal charges.
If you run afoul of Detention Center rules your day will look much different than what I’ve described above. Inmates found to have broken rules will be segregated from other inmates and spend 23 hours out of each day locked down in their individual cell. You will be allowed out of your cell for one hour per day to attend to daily hygiene, make phone calls and use the recreation room. Lock down is mentally and physically taxing and very unpleasant.
Some inmates won’t even see the main housing units. If you are arrested for a misdemeanor DWI for instance, you will spend the night in a holding cell and once the booking process, including fingerprints and mugshots, has been completed, you will most likely be released when you can provide a .00 breath sample on a PBT (Preliminary Breath Test).
That’s a quick and dirty look at what it’s like to be an inmate in our facility and I hope you found it informative. To some, the above might seem harsh and overly regimented. We do things the way we do because safety is our first priority. Some of the things we do and the way we operate the facility might seem odd but everything we do is an attempt to provide as safe an environment as possible for staff, volunteers and inmates. We take our safety and that of the inmates in our custody very seriously.
To others, the above may not seem harsh enough. Once again, we operate this way because it has been proven to be the safest way to operate a detention facility. To those that fall into this second category I invite you to come spend some time in our facility. I say that in jest but do understand that we have room for you if you do decide to make poor decisions. It’s all about choices after all. Most of us never make the poor choices that ultimately result in jail time. For those that do, rest assured that we’re open 24 hours a day 365 days per year and have room for you.
↩ I plan to post about the classification process in a future post.
↩ Breakfast consists of cold cereal, fruit, juice and a breakfast bar. Lunch is a hot meal that usually consists of a main entree, a vegetable, bread and a desert. Supper is sandwiches, a cold salad, chips and a desert.
EDIT: A typical lunch of tatertot hotdish, vegetables, a roll and some bars. It’s served with a fortified juice.
Yum!
Inmates at the Hubbard County Detention Center are offered a number of educational and work program opportunities while in custody. We believe that providing quality educational and work programs equips inmates with tools and work experience that can help them once they’re released. We also operate under the philosophy that inmates that can work, should work and be productive while in our custody.
Educational Programs
- GED preparation and testing.
- Adult basic education:
- Budget and Finance.
- Writing a resume, 4 Methods of Contacting Employers.
- Finding job leads: Data sheets and job applications.
- Interviewing for a job: before the interview, during the interview and after.
- Living Outside Part I: Preparing for a job, finding a job, getting along with co-workers.
- Living Outside Part II: Finding transportation, a place to live, managing money and taking care of your health.
- Parenting (uses curriculum from the University of Minnesota Extension office):
- Parenting Tools: Dealing with your own anger.
- Ten Commandments of Good Parenting.
- Parenting styles: Permissive, Balanced, Authoritarian.
- How Temperament Affects Children and Parents.
- Parenting from Jail
- Drug Proofing Your Child.
- Common questions kids ask when a parent is in jail. How to support a child in crisis.
- Cognitive Skills: “Change your thinking, change your life”
Educational programs are taught by trained educators through the Park Rapids Community Education program and paid for through grants from community organizations and through proceeds from the inmate canteen program.
Work Programs
Many inmates are eligible to participate in the Inmate Worker program. Inmates chosen for these positions will perform work in and around the jail including work in the laundry room, kitchen and general custodial work. Inmates offered positions as an Inmate Worker can work off fines that they have incurred as a result of their conviction. They work off fines at the rate of $6.00 per hour worked.
Eligible Inmate Workers can also participate in Hubbard County’s Sentenced To Serve program. The STS crew typically work outside of the jail performing work for the community. Crews work on disaster relief efforts, veteran’s memorials, public lake accesses, county, state and city parks and other non-profit projects. The projects benefit the community and the detainees learn job skills that can help them gain employment and become productive members of the community after their release.
This last year the crew helped clean up after the tornado that went through Park Rapids, helped with the flood effort in Otter Tail County and Moorhead among many other projects.
I’ve been remiss and haven’t posted in way to long. Summer is a very busy time for everyone, myself included but that’s no excuse!
Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to jump in the wayback machine and go back to November 1, 2005. On this date, then Sheriff Gary Mill, Chief Deputy Frank Homer and current Jail Administrator Sherri Klasen presented the following report on the plans for the new Law Enforcement Center. The report is presented here in it’s entirety and as it was originally presented.
NEW LAW ENFORCEMENT CENTER HISTORY AND PLANS
DATE: November 1, 2005
PROVIDED BY: Sheriff Gary Mills, Chief Deputy Frank Homer, Jail Administrator Sherri Klasen
HISTORY:
Since the early 1980′s Hubbard County has had issues with overflowing inmate jail populations. In 1982 the current L.E.C./Jail was constructed because of over population, and to operate under the Minnesota Department of Corrections standards and codes. The 1982 building housed 13 inmates, and was the base for Dispatch, Jailors, Administration and Deputies. The 1982 jail was a 90 day holding facility only. Shortly after the facility was built the county immediately experienced crowding in the jai. Again overflow inmates were transported and held in surrounding jails. Hubbard County even began experiencing the early release of inmates because of over population. By 1987 a new addition had been planned and built. The new addition provided housing for a total of 28 inmates.
By the mid to late 1990′s, again Hubbard County began feeling cramped as the inmates over population problem again became an issue. The Department of Corrections also at this time began making demands regarding employee/inmate privacy issues and wanting improvements. By 1999 Hubbard County became involved in a Northwestern Minnesota nine (9) county regional jail study, involving counties to the West, (Becker, Mahnomen, Polk, Wadena, Norman, Clay, Clearwater, Hubbard and Red Lake). A small committee was formed consisting of Sheriff, Office Personnel and Board members. Meetings and comprehensive studies continued for approximately 2 years without actions.
In 2002, the Hubbard County Jail Committee and later the Hubbard County Board made a decision to join another regional jail concept group. This was known as Central Minnesota Regional Jail Group, involving nine (9) counties to the East and South (Cass, Aitkin, Crow Wing, Morrison, Itasca, Beltrami, Todd Wadena and Hubbard). The comprehensive studies/research meetings continued and so did our issues. Besides over population and housing up to 10-12 inmates in other counties, Hubbard County had a 550 count warrant list. Transportation costs were rising and Deputies were being used in transporting inmates instead of them answering calls and protecting the county. Both transporting and the necessary extra personnel required to operate the jail caused increase in overtime and/or part time expenses.
The Central Minnesota Regional Jail concept continued but our interest soon dissipated as a decision was made to build the $12.6 million facility near Brainerd on the Minnesota State Hospital grounds. Committee members and Board members felt very apprehensive about being a part of a $12 to $13 million project out of Hubbard County. Factors also considered, were the yearly cost to maintain such facility ($400+/bed), the fact that Crow wing County residence would benefit from the employment possibilities, and that there still would be a per bed cost to counties, especially if more inmates were sent to be housed than originally planned.
By early 2003, research began on the possibility of building a Law Enforcement Center Jail attached Courthouse. A new Jail Study committee was established that included Law Enforcement, Commissioners, Swede Nelson, and Dick Devine, Maintenance Supervisor Lee Gwaizdon, citizen Gene Kinkel, D.O.C. representative Al Brinkman, PRPD Dave Volden, Earl Wagner, and later Commissioner Floyd Frank, and Coordinator Jack Paul. Side interest included building jointly with the PRPD and/or expanding an already erected Minnesota Power and Light building. Hubbard County proceeded with plans for more of an attached building.
In March of 2003, the Board authorized preliminary floor plans to begin being drawn up by selected Architect Richard Rude. The committee and Board set the criteria to build listing immediate needs, but also worked to plan for future needs and future expansions. The many meetings resulted in consideration of a 120 bed jail facility constructed under the modern “Podular Design”, unlike the current “Linear Design”.
The new jail facility should readily be divided into two (2) pods so as one 60 bed pod can be opened first and the second could be opened later as the need arises or contracts from the other counties were received. The facility would also include Sheriff’s Office Administration, second floor unfinished expansion, and a basement which would include disaster/emergency recovery rooms, a child abuse interview room, a public meeting room, etc.
It should be noted that during the planning stages in 2003 notification was sent to Hubbard County about a renewed five (5) county Central Minnesota Regional Jail Group, spearheaded by Cass County Administrator Bob Yocum. The counties involved included Cass, Beltrami, Itasca, Hubbard, and Wadena. Jail Committee members did attend meetings as these counties were neighboring counties and Hubbard would be the central location having a Hospital, Clinic, Chemical Dependency Treatment Center. The plans during the meeting turned towards the purchase of the Ah-Gway-Ching facility from the State of Minnesota, and building this into a regional Jail. At this time the State had no immediate interest in closing Ah-Gwah-Ching, so a decision was made to proceed with plans for our own jail with a possible interest of including Cass County in our plans. Later contact with Cass County Officials ended up with offers to contract 20 beds from Hubbard County for a period of 10 years. The contract would say Cass County would pay for 20 beds per day for 10 years whether they used them or not. Another option was to receive the 20 beds per day at a reduced price if Cass County paid $2 million up front.
During the process, the City of Park Rapids chose to build their own new facility, which would house Public Works and the Police Department. Cass County, during talks, continued their interest by asking for commitment of 60 beds. Because of this, and because of time restraints, Cass County went forward with plans with Crow Wing County. January 6th, 2004, the Board voted 5-0 to move forward with plans to build an LEC./Jail on site.
Originally plans began for a 120 bed jail, Sheriff Administration, Dispatch, Jail Control Area for approximately $5 million. Property tax impact analysis was prepared in December 6, 2003 based on the bonded amount of $5 million. Because of changes and additions made for the facility along with adding the cost to purchase adjacent properties and demolition of buildings on adjacent properties, the amount finally bonded is $8.6 million at the rate of 3.25% for 20 years. Plans moved forward regarding the construction project and on February 4, 2004 Hubbard County Coordinator Jack Paul was directed to work with personnel from the Sheriff’s Office on ideas to notify the public, specifically by putting updated information on the County website. The County was seeking out questions from the public regarding the project. Questions were to be directed to the Jail Committee Members.
In February 2004, Sheriff Mills presented the Board of Commissioners the projects options developed by the Jail Committee and Acrhitect. The Board unanimously directed the Jail Committee to work with Architect Dick Rude with the Jail construction to include a 118 bed jail, Law Enforcement Administration, full basement and an unfinished (shell) top floor.
In May 2004, bid specifications went out asking for a base bid, and bids on three (3) addendas and five (5) options. On July 20th, 2004 at 2:00PM the bids were opened and tabulated. Eight General Contractors/Companies submitted bids. The bid was awarded to Meinecke-Johnson.
In June/July, 2004 Sheriff Mills began discussing the need to increase Jai Staff in the new Jail. There were several meetings regarding this issue that included input from the D.O.C Inspector Al Brinkman. The final authorization was mad to hire four (4) teams of four (4) which would be a total of sixteen Jailor/Dispatchers to work twelve (12) hour shifts. The four (4) in each shift would then cover Dispatch person, Jail Control person, Booking Area person, and a Floor person.
During the summer of 2004 the demolition of the Wringer Building began along with the demolition of two homes that were purchased on the edge of the lot next to Court Street. Also during the summer of 2004, the home on the corner of Court Street and 3rd Street (Simmons house) was purchased by the County. The home was later purchased by HUD and moved by Ecker Brothers Moving, leaving only the garage.
By October 2004 construction started on the new Law Enforcement Center/Jail. Construction continues with a substantial completion date of February 10th, 2006.
(See attached plans for operation.)
PLANS FOR THE OPERATION OF THE NEW JAIL
As of November 1, 2005, the construction of the new jail facility continues. Construction is said to be on schedule. The substantial completion date of the jail still is scheduled for February 10th, 2006.
Prior to the opening the following procedures will be accomplished:
December 2005 – Detailed tour/walk through with Commissioners and Architect.
By January 1, 2006 – A Policy and Procedure manual will be written and dispensed.
January/February 2006 – Jail/Dispatchers will be trained in the operation of the facility. Additional training will occur regarding podular jails.
Mid March 2006 – An open house will be scheduled.
Mid March 2006 – Full security inspection to inspect Jail Facility for sharps etc. after construction.
March 2006 – test run – volunteer inmates
March 2006 – D.O.C. inspection.
Late March/early April 2006 – Move inmates.
Will will open the new Hubbard County Jail with existing inmates (23-30). We will begin operating in one (1) 60 bed pod. Our goal is to have the occupancy of the 60 bed pod at D.O.C.’s allowable operational capacity, which would be 54.
November/December 2005 – Introduction/information letters will be sent out to all Minnesota Sheriffs and Jail Administrators.
November 2005 – Letters of inquiry will be submitted to Sheriffs and Jail Administrators in District #1 and District #2 asking if there would be interest in their counties housing inmates.
Personal contact will be made to counties responding with interest.
November 2005 – Contact D.O.C. to inquire of work program inmates, and minimum/medium security inmates that we could house for them.
I want to clear something up that often confuses people. It would’ve been impossible to open up with one 60 bed pod as we have no 60 bed pods. We have 3 pods (1 female and 2 male) each with 32-40 beds. Additionally, housing units are gender specific so we had to open with at least 1 male and 1 female pod. Lastly, we have to classify inmates according to how serious their crime is, past and current behavior, criminal history, incompatibilities, gang affiliation, etc., so our male population is divided up between the 2 male pods based on these and other criteria.
Joe Henry
