Apr 01, 2007 - 04:04:37 CDT
Just as people who don't follow the rules go to prison, prisoners who don't follow the rules go to the administrative segregation unit of the prison."That's the jail within the jail," said Tim Schuetzle, warden of the North Dakota State Penitentiary and director of the state's prisons division. "That's where we put the guys who don't play well with others."
The administrative segregation unit at the prison holds 40 inmates in secure cells with solid steel doors and slots for staff to slide food trays to them, but the facility usually has 50 to 55 prisoners who need to be in the segregated unit because of their behaviors. The "best" inmates in segregation get put in cells with bars instead of steel doors on the second floor of the west cell house.
Having troublesome inmates in cells with bars instead of doors leaves prison staff vulnerable to attack, Schuetzle said. Correctional officers can be assaulted when they enter cells to feed inmates, or inmates can reach through the bars and assault them.
Or staff can get "slimed" - a potentially dangerous attack where inmates throw bodily fluids through the bars, Schuetzle said. He said sliming can place staff in jeopardy when inmates have hepatitis C or HIV.
"Those are our bad dudes who will take every opportunity to throw bodily fluids or slime at officers," said Leann Bertsch, director of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Prison officials consider the administrative segregation unit one of several problem areas at the facility. Other areas they consider inadequate include the infirmary, intake and orientation units, and the 99-year-old east cell house.
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials hope the North Dakota Legislature will approve a $42 million construction and renovation project, which was included in Gov. John Hoeven's proposed budget. Several new buildings would be constructed, including larger infirmary, segregation and orientation units and a new cell house to replace the east cell house.
But state lawmakers say they want to explore all options and choose the most cost-effective plan for the prison going into the future, and some aren't sure the $42 million plan is the right one for North Dakota.
The department's budget bill, HB1015, passed the state House with an $85 million appropriation for a new prison built on the existing prison site in east Bismarck, a plan supported by the prison's corrections union. The plan calls for utilizing some newer buildings already in use at the penitentiary and moving the minimum security Missouri River Correctional Center to the grounds of the prison.
However, the Senate has approved amendments that would cut out any funding for new buildings at the prison. The bill has been sent back to the Senate Appropriations Committee for further consideration, and the issue likely will be resolved in a conference committee made up of senators and representatives later in the legislative session.
"I think everything is really on the table,"said Rep. Rick Berg, R-Fargo.
Sen. Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said senators want to get more information before endorsing any prison plan.
"Once we build a new building, that's where it will be for the next 100 years," he said.
Fear of doing nothing
Department of Corrections officials fear lawmakers may decide to do nothing for the prison before the next legislative session.
"Doing nothing could be a problem for us," Schuetzle said.
The $42 million plan included in Hoeven's budget includes a 90-bed administrative segregation unit, which would alleviate the safety concerns with the current segregation unit, Schuetzle said. He said that's just one way the budget proposal would help improve the prison's efficiency and safety.
The intake and orientation units of the prison, where inmates begin their sentences, often get backed up by too many prisoners coming in at once, Schuetzle said.
Inmates are processed into the facility, then spend 30 days going through orientation, which includes assessments and evaluations. Prison staff use the assessments and evaluations to develop rehabilitation plans for each inmate.
The current orientation unit can hold up to 65 inmates if they are held two to a cell, but realistically holds 55 inmates because some can't be double-bunked due to safety concerns, Schuetzle said. About 75 to 85 new prisoners go through orientation every month, so some repeat prisoners end up with shorter orientation periods, Schuetzle said.
The governor's budget proposal would allow for a new orientation unit with between 75 and 100 beds, Schuetzle said.
Prison overcrowding issues are at the heart of the debate.
"We've more than tripled (the prison population) in 15, 16 years," said Schuetzle, who has worked at the prison since 1979, has been the warden since 1991 and has served as director of prisons since 1998.
The growth has tapered off to 2 percent or 3 percent increases per year, but the prison has been forced to contract with county jails and a private jail in Appleton, Minn., to house overflow inmates, Schuetzle said. At those facilities, inmates do not have access to GEDor addiction treatment programs offered by the Department of Corrections, he said.
The governor's plan includes replacing the east cell house, which was built in 1908, with a new general population unit that would add around 250 beds to the prison. Schuetzle said the additional beds should keep the vacancy sign out at the prison until around August 2014.
"We need the cells because we have a growing inmate population," Hoeven said. "These are not people we can put out on the streets. This is not an issue of parole and probation. It's an issue that we need the cells."
The additional cells would ensure that inmates aren't "warehoused" at other facilities, Bertsch said.
The east cell house also is one of the prison's oldest buildings and was built using a "telephone poll design," which looks like something out of a prison movie. The 160 cells are on four tiers, with half facing east and half facing west.
"There are some concerns whether it's structurally sound," Schuetzle said.
The cells in the east cell house are 47 square feet each, much smaller than the 80 square feet per cell recommended by the American Correctional Association, Schuetzle said. The cell house is hard for guards to patrol, because it is impossible to see more than one area at a time, he said.
The replacement cell house would be built with a "pod design," which has been incorporated in some of the prison's other cell houses. Every cell would have a window to the outside, would be of adequate size and could be monitored by one officer in the command center of the building, Schuetzle said.
The prison population has seen some changes other than growth since Schuetzle began working at the facility. Though addiction long has been a problem among North Dakota inmates, the shift of addiction types has gone from alcohol, LSD and cocaine to methamphetamine, Schuetzle said.
Methamphetamine addictions cause increased medical problems, Schuetzle said. Meth addicts often have dental problems, and addicts in their 20s have come in with significant organ damage, hepatitis C and HIV, he said.
Sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole also have changed the prison population, Schuetzle said. As inmates serving life sentences for Class AA felony murder or gross sexual imposition age, the need for a geriatric unit at the prison will increase, he said.
The prison's infirmary currently has five beds for sick inmates. If more than five inmates are sick at once, a guard has to accompany sick inmates to Bismarck hospitals. That puts the community's safety at risk and takes a guard away from the prison, Hoeven said.
The governor's plan would give the prison a new clinic and infirmary with 10 beds for sick inmates and 10 for geriatric inmates. The plan also would triple the size of the prison pharmacy, which currently does not meet the size standards of the State Pharmacy Board, Schuetzle said.
Years of studying went into developing the $42 million prison renovation and construction plan, Schuetzle said.
"The most well-thought plan is what's in the governor's budget," he said. "We think that's the most prudent plan for the taxpayer."
Hoeven said the plan makes more sense than building a new prison with the same number of beds in a different location, which would cost around $120 million. He compared it to a college replacing an old building.
"You wouldn't say, OK, since that one building is old, we need to move the campus,"he said. "You would say we need to replace that building."
Fear of getting it wrong
While corrections officials fear getting nothing done in the current legislative session, legislators fear doing something that will be viewed as the wrong choice a few years down the road.
House members chose to amend Hoeven's budget to provide $85 million for new buildings built at the existing prison complex, and some people say that amount could be reduced to $65 million. The plan would be similar to the governor's proposal, but would call for replacing the west cell house with a new "pod design"cell house and moving the minimum-security Missouri River Correctional Center to the east Bismarck prison complex.
Representatives say they want to remove all old buildings that house prisoners and replace them with more efficient buildings. The plan would keep many buildings in use that are considered adequate by prison officials, including the Roughrider Industries building that employs inmates to manufacture such goods as license plates and furniture.
Hoeven said the House plan "accelerates replacement of some of the buildings." He added that moving the MRCC to the prison grounds may be a move that would pay for itself.
Berg, the House majority leader, said the riverfront property where the MRCC sits has been appraised at $8 million to $10 million. The plan that passed the House calls for selling the MRCC land after prison complex construction has been completed.
Prison employees back the budget bill passed by the House but do not have an official position on the relocation of the MRCC. Brad Holt, a correctional officer who serves as president of the prison's corrections union, said the move would save on fuel and transportation costs accrued through inmate transfers.
Rep. Al Carlson, R-Fargo, said the House voted to build on to the prison complex to ensure the safety of prison employees.
"Those people they're serving are not exactly model citizens," he said.
Sen. Bob Stenehjem, R-Bismarck, said senators join in concerns about prison employee safety, because the workers deal with people who are "not exactly the cream of the society." But, he said lawmakers need to make sure they find the most cost-effective option for the state that will take the prison beyond 2014.
Senators will be considering various proposals and looking into studies done during the past few years on the prison, said Stenehjem, the Senate majority leader.
Stenehjem said lawmakers need to decide if Bismarck is the best place for the prison considering the city's growth, because once they put money into the existing prison it probably will not move.
Holmberg said moving the prison to a new location does not seem to be gaining support.
"I don't think that's something the Senate is excited about,"he said.
Stenehjem said the Senate will look at the proposal included in the governor's budget, the plan passed by the House and will explore other options.
He said slowly building a prison on currently unused land on the far east of the penitentiary complex may be another idea to consider. Buildings could be put up as needed when money is available, and eventually a new prison would be built on the other side of the property, he said.
"They can slowly start and stop at will," he said. "I think we should look at systematically doing things."
Taking all of the construction money out of HB1015 gives the Senate a bill to move into a conference committee, he said.
"This is a work in progress," he said. "We're under construction."
(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)
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