Jail plan shifts tribe members
Kootenai County might house inmates for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe as soon as this month under a proposed agreement county commissioners will consider today.
The tribe approached Kootenai County when Benewah County officials recently decided to cut off jail and dispatch services for the tribe after years of providing those services.
Tribal spokesman Quanah Spencer said Benewah County officials didn’t give the tribe a reason why the contract for services wouldn’t be renewed. Relations between Benewah County officials and tribal leaders have been strained for some time, Spencer said.
“This lack of renewal on the part of Benewah County shows they are continuing to be strained,” he said.
Benewah County Sheriff Robert Kirts said the decision was simply due to overcrowding in the county’s jail, which was built in 1924 and has been red-flagged for numerous violations.
The third-floor jail has two dormitory-style cells plus three cells that came out of a World War I battleship, Kirts said. A recent jail inspection dinged the county for lack of space and fire escapes.
As a temporary fix, the county purchased chain ladders so prisoners could be evacuated through windows. Meanwhile, Kirts said, the county is exploring the possibility of a new jail.
“The state has come in and says we can only house 16 prisoners legally,” Kirts said. “We were averaging about twice that.”
About half the inmates at any given time are members of the tribe, Kirts said.
Kootenai County’s jail also has been overcrowded, but Sheriff Rocky Watson said housing the tribe’s inmates would not be a burden on taxpayers.
The tribe would pay the cost of housing each inmate and also pay if an inmate had to be transferred to another jail to make room for a tribal member.
Watson said Kootenai County also will provide dispatch services for the tribe, which will give his deputies access to criminal histories and other information about tribal members.
Kirts said Benewah County’s dispatch is overextended and that the county couldn’t respond to the additional calls coming from tribal members.”We can’t handle it in a safe manner,” Kirts said.
The tribe was paying Benewah County about $150,000 a year for jail services and $93,000 for dispatch service, Spencer said.
Watson said the amount that the tribe’s paying Kootenai County for housing inmates works out to about $40 a day per inmate.
Kootenai County 911 Director Brad Coughenour said dispatch services will cost the tribe about $40,000 a year through Kootenai County. The amount could increase on an annual basis, Coughenour said.
“It’s a win-win situation for us,” Coughenour said. The tribe will have a computerized record of each call that comes in, and telephone calls and radio traffic will be recorded.
The tribe would provide the county with space for communication sites on the reservation.
The partnership would not be the first for Kootenai County and the tribe. Kootenai County has cross-deputized members of the tribal police department so tribal officers can respond to calls involving non-tribal members on the reservation.
Benewah County used to cross-deputize members of the tribal police department, but Spencer said Benewah County has stopped doing that.
“We are willing to pay for some good service and some cooperation and, to the extent we can, assist a neighboring jurisdiction,” Spencer said.