Many of the fees had remained unchanged over the past few years, so the Pennington County Board raised some of its jail fees at its meeting Tuesday, Nov. 22.
The largest increase will be for high risk offender boarding, which will increase from $75 per bed per day to $125 per bed per day. Inmate boarding fees for other counties will increase from $55 per bed per day to $65 per bed per day.
Many local counties are housing inmates here due to restrictions placed on them by the Minnesota Department of Corrections. Lake of the Woods County can only hold inmates for up to 72 hours, and Marshall County can only hold male inmates for up to 90 days.
Pennington County holds all female Marshall County inmates since the latter jail can only house female inmates for a short period of time. Pennington County also houses some inmates from Beltrami Clearwater and Kittson counties.
Beltrami County continues to grapple with plans to build a new jail. “It takes a while to build a jail as we know,” said Sheriff Ray Kuznia, who noted Pennington County built its new jail at the right time in terms of the cost. The county also built it a little larger to accommodate future needs. Drug offenses have made it worse for counties, said Kuznia, who noted more inmates are serving time at county jails instead of state prisons. He added this was especially true for first-time offenders who would have been sentenced to prison in the past. Housing out-of-county inmates enables the jail to offset some of its expenses.
Besides out-of-county inmate booking fees, the cost of ER visits and dental visits will also increase for inmates. It will be a $35 co-pay or the full cost for sentenced/convicted inmates. Previously, those amounts were $25 and free, respectively, for ER visits and dental visits.
Fees will also increase for inmates with Huber privileges. Pennington County inmates will be charged $35 per day. Right now, they’re being charged $25 per day. Out-of-county inmates with Huber privileges will be charged $65 per day as opposed to the current rate of $50 per day.
The cost of meals for inmates with Huber privileges will also increase to $10. Currently, they are charged $5.
Other fees will increase, including the fee for urinalysis, which will increase to $15 and the full cost for lab confirmation. Right now, individuals don’t have to pay the full cost for lab confirmation.
The fee for the fingerprinting of public applicants will also increase. They will be charged $20 as opposed to the current rate of $15.
The new fees take effect Jan. 1 with the exception of inmate boarding fees for Lake of the Woods County, which has a contract with Pennington County that expires June 21, 2023.
https://trftimes.com/news/21140/fees-at-county-jail-to-increase
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