Report: Reservation Jails Packed
By MATT KELLEY
Associated Press Writer
04:35 PM ET 07/09/00
WASHINGTON (AP) - On many nights, the small jail on Arizona's
White Mountain Apache reservation is packed to twice its 46-inmate
capacity with people convicted or accused of domestic violence,
drunken driving and other crimes. Overcrowding is such a problem, that some offenders are being
released early from jail - on ``minor alcohol-related incidents,''
for example - and officers are making arrests only on ``more
violent, serious crimes,'' said Raymond Burnette, police chief for
the 15,000-member tribe.
A Justice Department study released Sunday finds that most of
the 69 jails on American Indian reservations are overcrowded and
understaffed.
The jails serve 53 reservations in 18 states in the West and
upper Midwest. Federal law gives some tribes authority over
misdemeanor crimes, while felonies on reservations are prosecuted
by federal or state systems. These tribes can incarcerate an
offender for a maximum of one year.
A department study last year, the first comprehensive analysis
of American Indians and crime, found that they are more than twice
as likely to be victims of violent crimes than the general U.S.
population.
The new report by the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics,
showed that American Indians also are imprisoned at higher rates
than others. In June 1999, 19,679 American Indians were behind bars
- 1,621 in American Indian jails, 12,858 in state or federal
prison, and 5,200 in county jails.
Overall, 797 American Indians per 100,000 population were
incarcerated, compared with 682 people per 100,000 in the general
population.
``A few tribes have made gains through Indian gaming, but most
tribes continue to have a severe poverty problem on their
reservations, and that carries with it social problems,'' said Mark
Van Norman, who heads the department's Office of Tribal Justice. The new report said the White Mountain Apache jail was one of
nine tribal jails crammed to more than twice capacity in June 1999. The most overcrowded jail was on North Dakota's Fort Berthold
reservation, where 32 inmates were kept in a jail designed for
nine. Three of the nine most overcrowded jails were on the Navajo
reservation in Arizona and New Mexico.
Officials at all but two of the 69 jails said they needed more
staff, more training or both, the report said. Combined, the
reservation lockups held slightly more than their capacity of 2,118
people on their most crowded day in June 1999, the report said. Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi,
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma,
Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming have
Indian jails.
``We know there's a tremendous need'' for more reservation
jails, said Van Norman, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
``There has been tremendous population growth in Indian Country,
and the existing facilities were mostly built in the late '60s and
early '70s, so they're coming to the end of their useful life.'' That is the case at Burnette's jail, which is close to 40 years
old and was renovated and expanded a few years ago. Plumbing
problems have caused cell toilets to back up and the security doors
need to be replaced to ease the danger to guards or the risk of
escapes, Burnette said.
The Justice Department has a $34 million program to help tribes
build or renovate jails, and each year gets many more applications
than there is money to fund them, Van Norman said. The jail construction budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs is
about $5.5 million this year, and the House and Senate have
approved bills that would grant the same amount for next year.
Related Links:
Bureau of Justice Statistics:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
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