Hennepin Co. Jail reduces inmate population with costly temporary solution

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office has moved hundreds of inmates to other jails in order to meet the demands of the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC).

This temporary solution will ultimately cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

What we know

The Hennepin County Jail has too many inmates and not enough guards. After eight deaths over the last two years, Minnesota Department of Corrections ordered the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office to cut the number of inmates to 600.

After missing a Nov. 15 deadline, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office was given until Thursday, Dec. 5 to reduce its jail population.

READ MORE: MN Dept. of Corrections grants extension for Hennepin Co. Jail to reduce inmate population

Over the past three weeks, hundreds of inmates have been moved to other facilities across Minnesota. 

Hennepin County now has contracts with seven other counties, but the price tag to house the overflow of inmates will cost taxpayers about $600,000 a month. 

While the jail has now met the requirements of the DOC's order, it's only a temporary fix, because the Hennepin County board has only approved funding to pay other county jails until the end of May.

Hennepin County commissioners approved seven agreements during a meeting on Tuesday with other counties to house inmates for a total cost of $3.875 million.

Those agreements last until May 30, when the conditional license order is set to expire.

What they're saying

Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt spoke to the Hennepin County Board of commissioners about the need for solutions.

"It's my hope that we don't have to go to May 30," Sheriff Witt said. "There's things in there that we can do, but again it's going to be a continuation of collaboration, listening across the table to each other about what the needs are. We know what we need to do and I for one would like to stay ahead of this as well. This is not a very comfortable position, it's not a good look."

Hennepin County Commissioner of District 2 Irene Fernando said, "This is obviously not a sustainable approach to resolving the matters at hand."

Hennepin County Administrator David Hough said, "We're over capacity. We have more detainees than we can house."

Guard to inmate ratio

The sheriff’s office said in November that it has more than 150 detention deputies, about 40 fewer than it needs to handle the 800 inmates that the facility is designed to hold. 

The agency said it has the budget to fill the openings but has struggled to find qualified candidates.

Officials say there are 10 new hires in the current training class, with another class set to start in 2025.

As of Wednesday afternoon on Dec. 4, Hennepin County currently has 563 inmates in custody at its jail in downtown Minneapolis, with another 267 being held in other jails across the state. 

About 91% of all those in custody are being held for felony crimes, including 78 inmates facing murder charges, 165 for assault, 140 for domestic assault, and 102 for weapons charges.