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Some Minnesota counties struggle with empty jails

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Some Minnesota counties struggle with empty jails By TOM ROBERTSON , Associated Press Minneapolis Star Tribune March 16, 2009 PARK RAPIDS, Minn. - This state-of-the-art jail facility in Park Rapids has enough beds to hold 116 prisoners. But on this day there are only 34. Jail Administrator Sherri Klasen said that means lots of empty cells, as she tours a jail wing. "This is a typical double-bunk cell," Klasen said. "Pretty sparse. That's the toilet." When this facility was built in 2006, there were high hopes it would draw overflow prisoners from around the region, and help Hubbard County make some money from its neighbors. But that isn't happening. The overcrowding from just a few years ago disappeared. In fact, Minnesota Department of Correction figures show the number of prisoners in county jails is down 3...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on March 18, 2009 (boomark / email).