The Tri-County Community Corrections Board met in the Polk County Justice Center on Monday morning for their regular board meeting.
The meeting began with the approval of the monthly statistics review. The monthly statistics from July included a daily average of 173 inmates (143 males, 30 females) and 49 daily per diems. The monthly income for July was $89,343. The Juvenile Center averaged seven inmates placed in the non-secure facility daily. The most issued cases were D.U.I., failure to appear, probation violations, and assault/domestic abuse.
As of Monday morning, there were 159 inmates, 46 per diem, 8 Department of Corrections (D.O.C.) inmates, and one bureau of prisons.
Executive Director Andrew Larson announced three new hires, Whitney Pickens, Addaleigh Dufault, and Arceli Ledesma, to fill corrections officer positions. Larson also said Adin Torres and Alina Noyes had passed their probationary period. Two employees resigned.
The Red River Valley Juvenile Center is actively hiring. They are looking for two full-time juvenile custody officers and one part-time position. “We’re looking for an emphasize on males because, within our facility, we ideally want to have one staff of each gender,” said Larson. “Some of the thing’s staff is required to do, maybe a gender-specific task. For instance, for searches or collecting a U.A.” The job postings are available on the Tri-County Community website for those interested. Click on the employment tab and fill out the application. The requirements for the positions are a high school diploma or equivalent and must be 21 years of age or older. To apply, click here.
PER DIEM RATES BEING RAISED AT RRVJC
The per diem rates at the Juvenile Center are being increased. The current rate for secure inmates is $290, and $275 for non-secure inmates. This rate is being raised to $350 for both departments. “Each year, we do an assessment on what other regional facility centers are charging around the state,” said Larson. “We brought to the board today some options to consider. For our non-member counties that utilize our facilities,s which are Ramsey County, Hennepin County, Lyon County, etc. We are increasing our per diem rates to $350 daily on our facility’s non-secure and secure side.” The price increase is reportedly used for added staffing, added cost in general, and essential inflation.
BOARD TALKS ABOUT POSSIBLY TAKING AWAY SECURE UNITS IN JUVENILE CENTER
During Monday’s meeting, the board was having preliminary discussions about possibly taking away the secure unit of the Juvenile detention center. “There is an absolute need for us to evaluate what options exist; statutory changes drive some of this,” said Larson. “All juvenile detention facilities have to use the Risk Assessment Instrument to determine whether a child is to be placed in a secure detention environment.” This tool causes challenges in rural areas due to low incarceration numbers. “We’re just having preliminary discussions on the impact of implementing this risk assessment could be,” said Larson. “If we see a significant reduction in our usage of secure detention beds does it make more sense to us to eliminate that portion of our facility.” It was determined if this portion of the facility was eliminated, the Juvenile center would hold two non-secure portions in the facility.
Tri-Community Corrections has been approved for a Minnesota Department of Health grant. This grant comes from the Epidemiology Laboratory and Capacity program funds. They will be receiving an estimated $114,704.44.
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