The Tri-County Corrections Board met Monday at the Northwest Regional Correction Center conference room.
The monthly statistics for September were presented to the board, which included an average daily population of 166 inmates, with 135 male and 31 female. The average daily population for the Juvenile Center was just over six inmates.
The most common causes for incarceration during August were 33 parole/probation violations, 24 DWIs, 22 failure to appear in court, 18 controlled substance abuse cases, and 14 assault/domestic assault instances.
The Juvenile Center is almost entirely staffed with the NWRCC in search of one more full-time corrections position. The secure portion of the Juvenile Center has not been available so far in 2023. Yet, Corrections Executive Director Andrew Larson hopes both sides of the facility may be ready for use by December of this year.
“December may be a realistic possibility for us to get open,” said Larson, “It depends if we can get fully staffed because we can’t open without being fully staffed; even if we lose one full-time, we can’t be open.” Larson also explained that the training process for new hires can take some time, before opening both sides of the facility.
During this year’s Minnesota legislative session, the state has required juvenile facilities to use a risk assessment instrument (RAI) before placing any juvenile in a secure detention environment. Larson gave the board updates on how the RAI is becoming more effective. “We’ve put together a group of local professionals that we’re fortunate to come up with broad representation,” said Larson, “We have representatives from all three counties (Polk, Norman, Red Lake) who have participated in this workgroup and we were able to give an overview of what we wanted to work on.”
Over the past two months, the NWRCC has been able to use instruments and measurements used in other jurisdictions and modified these tools to accommodate the juveniles being tested. “For example, we looked at different types of offenses and then assigned points to those offenses,” said Larson, “This helps us with our decision-making and also how to score aggravating and mitigating factors.”
The NWRCC hosted its annual Resources for Reintegration Event on August 23. Larson said it was a great turnout, with 84% of eligible inmates attending. This event has not happened since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “This year we were finally able to hold the resource fair,” said Larson, “This is just a way to provide inmates with information on resources that are available in our community and to assist them with whatever their needs are.” This event saw local representation and employers, which included American Crystal Sugar, New Flyer of America, and others.
The NWRCC has written a grant for Youth Intervention Programs. This is a two-year grant in the amount of $195,000 with a 50% match. This funding will allow the NWRCC transition staff to make sure minors don’t suffer from out-of-home placement when unnecessary.
The NWRCC also wrote a grant for the Crime Intervention and Prevention Program. This is also a two-year grant in the amount of $500,000. This grant was written to allow the NWRCC to not only continue its pretrial supervision program but to expand it as well. “Right now, we have a pretrial supervision program funded through grant dollars,” said Larson, “We want to continue the program and expand it to incorporate a specific caseload for those who have identified substance use disorder.”
This grant will help fund two full-time positions with benefits, as well as testing for the program.
