MINOT, N.D. (AP) - Monitoring and correcting the compliance issues at Ward County Correctional Facility is going to take time but is necessary, the state’s director of jail inspections told county commissioners this week.
Steve Engen, the director of staff development and facility inspections at the North Dakota Department of Corrections, sent a letter this week to Ward County commissioners after they asked for a timeline for bringing jail compliance monitoring to a close.
The state began an 18-month monitoring process after releasing an investigative report on the jail in December, the Minot Daily News reported (https://bit.ly/1E3T3l3 ). The county is responsible for paying for a state compliance officer.
The investigation found the jail had been violating state laws and rules. Some violations included not providing medical physicals to inmates as required, not sending nine correctional officers to approved training within their first year of employment and consistently operating above inmate capacity with insufficient staffing.
The Corrections Department claimed oversight of the jail after its investigation into the Oct. 6 death of an inmate found the jail’s care “grossly inadequate.”
In a letter, county commissioners had asked the state how long the monitoring process would take. They said they’re not willing to spend the “approximate $80,000 cost” of having a compliance officer come to the jail if “we don’t have a clear picture of what the end of this inspection is going to look like.”
Engen reminded the commission that the investigation produced a comprehensive list of issues. The compliance monitor has also identified more in his visits, he said.
He suggested the commission consider the “extremely reasonable” accommodation the Department of Corrections has made to help bring the jail into compliance and avoid complete closure.
“While this office regrets that this process is time consuming, we believe that this process is necessary to address the number of noncompliance issues, procedural and policy issues,” he wrote in his letter.
He did not provide a timeline for bringing the monitoring to a conclusion but said the jail has made progress on achieving compliance.
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Information from: Minot Daily News, https://www.minotdailynews.com
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