Tri-County Community Corrections’ Regional Corrections Board held their monthly meeting on Monday morning at the Polk County Justice Center. Executive Director Andrew Larson told the board that January was a busy and productive month for the Sentence to Serve and Chore Service programs provided to inmates at the corrections center. Sentence to Serve provides snow removal, like around fire hydrants, along with other services for cities, townships, and non-profits. Chore Service does snow removal and other yard chores for seniors allowing them to stay in their homes. The Chore Service served 49 elderly clients in Norman, Polk, and Red Lake Counties in January.
The Northwest Regional Corrections Center averaged 184 inmates in January, right in line with their 2018 averages and as of Monday morning had 181 inmates including 58 from outside agencies. Drug and controlled substance charges, DUI and probation/parole violations are usually the top three categories for new bookings and that was the case again in January. Probation is under court jurisdiction and usually assigned in lieu of jail or prison time for low-risk offenders, explains Larson. “We kind of keep track of all the new admissions into the jail and the reason for their admission,” said Larson. “One of the top categories every single month is probation and parole violators. Those are two terms that are often used very synonymously, but they are different. A probation violation is under court jurisdiction and out in the community. They have violated a condition of their violation from drinking to drug use to not remaining in contact with their agent. There is a whole litany of things that could be the cause for that probation violation.”
Meanwhile, someone serving a sentence may be paroled for the last part of their sentence said, Larson. “A parole violation, on the other hand, is someone who has had their sentenced executed meaning they have been sentenced by the commissioner of corrections,” said Larson. “In the State of Minnesota for the vast majority of sentences, an offender will do two-thirds of their time in prison and one-third of their time on supervised release, which is what we call parole. For example, someone sentenced to 48 months would do 32 months in prison and 16 months on parole with exceptions for certain cases. We do a lot of housing for parole violators for things like drinking, drug use, absconding their supervision, contacting the victim, they can either be restructured or be brought in to our facility to do up to 90 days locally. It depends on a variety of factors such as if we have room, the severity of the violation, the offender’s risk score. We will also be used as a temporary holding for the [Department of Corrections] transport where they need a place to stay overnight before getting to prison the following day.”
The juvenile center also maintained a solid population with an average of 10.6 residents in January, with 4.6 on secure and 6 on residential. The board approved four personnel changes, including the completion of the one-year probationary period for both the Jail Administrator, Joey Peterson, and the Assistant Jail Administrator, Phil Schroeder, and they approved the resignation of two corrections officers, Matt Benge – hired by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, and Brandon Nienaber – hired by the White Earth Police Department.
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