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County gets federal jail contract
Inmates expected to start arriving in early April
Published Friday, March 27, 2009
A contract that will bring up to 80 federal inmates to the Freeborn County jail was made official Wednesday between Freeborn County and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
Inmates are expected to begin arriving at the jail in early April, Freeborn County Sheriff Mark Harig said Thursday. The additional inmates will help the jail reach its licensed capacity of 122 inmates.
Harig said he has been working on the proposal with ICE officials for several months.
This is the first federal inmate proposal in Minnesota in five years.
To accommodate the additional inmates, the Freeborn County commissioners last week approved additional staff positions including:
• Security staff: Nine new positions hired effective immediately.
• Transportation officers: Four new positions hired after May 15.
Mark Harig
• Programming staff: Two new positions hired after May 15.
• Clerical staff: One new position hired effective immediately.
• Maintenance staff: One new position hired after May 15.
Current team leader positions will also be reclassified to sergeants, and the current assistant administrator will be reclassified to administrator, both effective immediately.
During a Freeborn County commissioners meeting last week, Administrator John Kluever said personnel are expected to cost about $618,000 a year, not including transport drivers, who are reimbursed by the federal government.
The overall cost is estimated at $750,000, including costs for things such as transporting vans, additional mattresses and uniforms, he said.
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Comments
Posted by hosta (anonymous) on March 26, 2009 at 4:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey, actually something that will bring income into the county and employees pockets without having give someone a tax break incentive to do it !! Good for you! Something constructive for our tax dollars at work finally. This is a good way of making the budget better instead of just thinking about cutting, cutting, and cutting!
Posted by InterestedReader (anonymous) on March 26, 2009 at 6:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It would be nice to see them take profits from this contract and add patrol deputies! It would be a good way to pay for better service.
Posted by nisperos (anonymous) on March 26, 2009 at 7:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Better government jobs than jobs at private prisons which generally tend to benefit only the top administrators and have great potential to hide abuses. Prisons take up a lot of resources starting with water, electricity, and waste disposal.
Let's hope any money generated stays in the community and benefits the community. The local Home Depot and Wal-Mart should also be able to increase or retain employees. Also, hopefully there will be additional infrastructure stimulus and development for roads as well as economic stimulus for restaurants and motels for family visitors.
Learn how to set limits, however. Should there be any talk of adding private prisons to the mix, watch out and oppose it as strongly as you can because the impacts from private prisons on communities, including a community's reputation, can be devastating. Don't just take my word for it, do your own research...
Posted by speakup (anonymous) on March 27, 2009 at 8:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is awesome news! I am so glad our community leaders and Mr. Harig are taking this step! Albert Lea has so much potential, and there is no excuse for not having consistent growth! Nearly 20 new good paying positions created! Let's keep up the progress!
Posted by brunswick (anonymous) on March 27, 2009 at 9:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Someone is finally thinking and taking appropriate steps in allowing revenue to filtrate through Albert Lea. Good job.
Posted by 3trees (anonymous) on March 27, 2009 at 10:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Congrats to the county. Keep up the great work.
Posted by ctnpsqrl (anonymous) on March 27, 2009 at 11:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Excellent. Nice to hear some good news.
Posted by truthshallprevail (anonymous) on March 27, 2009 at 11:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thumbs up!
Posted by GH2ORepub (anonymous) on March 27, 2009 at 12:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This just goes to show that we spent money on a jail that was much bigger than we needed.
I think such funds could have been spent on drwaing in a better class of people.
I do applaud Sheriff Harig for making the best of a poor situation.
Posted by Wildbill (anonymous) on March 27, 2009 at 1:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with GH20Repub.
Posted by speakup (anonymous) on March 27, 2009 at 4:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
hipocrit - yes, I am glad the INS raids businesses and hauls off the ILLEGALS! Key word ILLEGALS!
Who will be visiting these inmates... their families... Who are not in jail, and free to visit whom ever they like, unless they too are illegals, in which case they probably wouldn't show their faces in a jail visitation room!
Stop trying to create panic and be glad A.L. is making smart economic decisions.
And Virginian... Criminals from other countries are smarter than other inmates! Are you serious! Properly trained corrections officers and well equipped jails are pretty effective! Find something else to cry wolf about!
Posted by nisperos (anonymous) on March 27, 2009 at 8:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
@ hypocryt 12:16 p.m.
"nisperos must be a Sheriff's dept employee"
In this day and age, Benjamin Franklin might have used the blog name " Mrs. Silence Dogood": http://library.thinkquest.org/22254/dogo...
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay used the name "Publius" when they wrote the Federalist Papers
Also consider the 1995 Supreme Court ruling in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission:
"Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views . . . Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society"
Posted by agamboa (anonymous) on March 28, 2009 at 9:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Virginian comments "Fed. inmates are much more then your run of the mill local law breaker". In a typical case yes, federal inmates are much more then your run of the mill local law breaker but this contract is aimed and housing Federal inmates who were detained by ICE for falsely claiming citizenship or working eligibility, using someone elses identity, a felony and Federal crime. We can not assume they are a danger to our community, which they typically aren't. They were simply someone working for a better future. Although what they did is illegal you can not and should not assume they are bad people. What would you do if you faced the same situation so many immigrants do?
Posted by chrish (anonymous) on March 28, 2009 at 7:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
agamboa - while I agree that these people might not be dangerous in the sense of them being murders, rapists, etc., identity theft and being here illegally is not a victimless crime.
Case in point, the car/school bus accident that killed and seriously injured several children here in MN. The driver was an illegal immigrant and an identity thief. An important point besides the obvious (she should not have been driving) is that she didn't have proper insurance. So now the parents of the deceased children and those who were injured will not get the compensation they need or deserve. You can't get blood out of a turnip.
Believe me, I am very sympathetic to most illegal immigrants that come here. If we all saw how they were living, we wouldn't blame them - we would probably do the same thing. But we need to remember there are consequences to this and many of the crimes are not victimless either.
Posted by theChipper1 (anonymous) on March 30, 2009 at 5:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I WOULD ONLY LIKE TO KNOW ONE THING...OR TWO OR THREE,,,
I DO GET VERY NERVOUS WHEN THE FED "GIVES" US ANYTHING...IT USUALLY COMES WITH INCREASED FEDERAL CONTROL OVER OUR LIVES SOMEHOW! IT USUALLY MEANS THAT somewhere down the road they will have LARGER CONTROL OVER OUR STATE SOVERENTY...AND CONSIDERING THAT OUR SHERIFF IS OUR LAST BASTIONE OF PROTECTION AGAINST GOVERNMENT TYRANNY...I AM EXTREMELY CONCERNED WHEN THE FED INVOLVES OUR SHERIFF OR GIVES ANY FUNDS TO HIM (or for that matter our Fire Dept.)THERE USUALLY IS AN OBLIGATORY FAVOR THAT MUST BE RETURNED DOWN THE LINE!! I BELEIVE THAT FED IS SIMPLY AND METHODICALY TRYING TO UNDERMINE THE SOVERENTY OF OUR GREAT STATE OF MINNESOTA..!!
I TRUST OUR SHERIFF AND CONCILMEN ARE AWARE OF JUST HOW MUCH POWER OUR SHERIFF HAS AGAINST OUTSIDE CONTROL OR INFLUENSE OF ANY KIND,,??? IF NOT SURE, IT SHOULD BE RESOURSED AND THAT QUICKLY! AND, ASK YOURSELF WHY SO MANY STATES HAVE REFUSED ANY FUNDS FROM THE FED??? MIGHT BE WORTH READING FINE PRINT LIKE OUR GOVERNOR SEEMS RELUCTANT TO DO...! It's all about the money isn't it? who gets it, where it's spent, how many voters are pleased......
WARM REGARDS,
theChipper1
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