Ramsey County officials were working Monday to move inmates from the county jail to other county jails in the metro area–among other facilities–as a state deadline to reduce the capacity because of medical concerns looms.
Sheriff Bob Fletcher told WCCO’s Chad Hartman his staff was told by Minnesota Department of Corrections officials to have the jail capacity down to 324 inmates by Wednesday. On Monday, the jail population was over 370. He would not confirm if the state stepped in because of concerns staff and other county leaders had shared with DOC officials because of reports inmates were not getting adequate medical care.
“There are some times people failed on their responsibility, but on the most part, we run one of the safest jails in the nation,” Sheriff Fletcher said.
County deputies and corrections officials were working to free up hundreds of beds at the county work house, Fletcher said.
The longstanding battles continued between Fletcher and the county board. He told Hartman he could provide better care if he’d received $2 million more in funding–money he said would pay for 18 additional employees to transport, guard, and secure inmates, especially when there’s a medical emergency.
“We’re hoping to get additional staff. We’re recruiting like crazy to get additional staff,” he said. “We expect that we’ll probably get some help in the court system by moving some of the bodies out of our facility.”
Ramsey County Board Chair Trista MatasCastillo told WCCO’s Jason DeRusha later on Monday afternoon that the county contacted state corrections officials after concerns that came to county leaders went un-answered by Fletcher and his staff.
“I’m not interested in getting into politics or personality,” said MatasCastillo. “I really think that this is an issue that we have a problem, it’s been documented, and now we have a mandate from the state and we have to take action, and that’s what I’m focused on doing.”
She confirmed that work continued Monday afternoon to get housing for the inmates.
“We believe we’ll be able to accommodate, through other facilities, the care of those people in the short-term while we work on the other underlying issues that are occurring in the jail,” she said. “Our goal is to keep folks who are Ramsey County residents in our care to remain in Ramsey County. That’s beneficial to them, their families, as well as to our budget.”
