Cramped quarters prompted Burleigh County commissioners to weigh the expansion of the county correctional facility on Monday.

The board was warned that expanding the Burleigh County Detention Center is needed because the number of inmates exceeds available space by as much as 100 inmates.

A committee will be assigned to study the housing needs of the inmates, including Commissioner Jim Peluson, County Finance Director Clyde Thompson and Sheriff Pat Heinert. When the full board is present at the Dec. 15 meeting, it will decide if Commissioner Jerry Woodcox or Commissioner Doug Schonert will serve on the committee.

Heinert said he also is drafting a letter to Mayor John Warford asking if Bismarck Police Chief Keith Witt and a city commissioner will join.

While Heinert said the county has been creative in housing and supervising prisoners, most of the options prove costly.

County, school, park board and city officials brought up the local jail project during a recent joint tax meeting in November, according to Schonert.

Commissioners discussed that it might be ideal to stagger major projects, somehow, between the entities to avoid a large burden on local taxpayers. This includes the jail facility.

"We are at the point where we are going to need jail expansion," said Schonert. "Whether that means building a new jail, expanding the jail we have or at one point the penitentiary talked about building a new penitentiary. There was some interest we could share in that."

Schonert said he envisions some type of expansion being planned for 2010.

"I received a positive consensus from that group that we are in need of a jail," said Schonert.

"Part of the purpose of the meeting is we don't want to hit the taxpayers of Burleigh County all at once," said Commissioner Mark Armstrong. "There might be need for a school, a fire station, or parks and recreation might have some capital project … We'll meet in February again to set up a master plan to stagger these projects; so if we do have to do them, where is the funding coming from and how we can have a master calendar."

"Our jail population has been growing consistently for the last several years," Schonert said. "As our population grows, so does that population. Visiting with the sheriff, we're at full capacity and above." Schonert said the county houses prisoners outside the detention center when overcrowding occurs, but it is costly.

Heinert said the committee would need to study how many beds were needed. "We'll have to look at the statistics for the last 10 years and look at how we've increased in those 10 years and project that out.

"If we are going to build a facility, we are going to have to build it for at least 25 to 30 years into the future," Heinert said.

He added the female population is growing. "That is becoming a huge concern for us," Heinert said. "We have limited space in the building where we can put them, where we stay in the state guidelines for sight and sound from the male population."

Heinert said February marks the 18th year they have occupied the present Burleigh County Detention Center.

"When we built this building, it appeared we should have 25 good years. Eighteen years and we're full considerably. This is a 138-facility. We need in the area of another 100 beds right now."

Heinert said options may include building on to the existing building or building somewhere else on other property outside the city or along the edge of the city.

The 138 beds are divided up into different cell blocks of between one and 10. These include dormitory-style, security-style and some are segregated.

"Federal guidelines and jail guidelines call for 80 percent being considered full, which is 110 inmates," Heinert told the commission. "Currently, we are at 126 average daily population for 2008."

He said those figures exclude a program that allows some inmates to be released early for good behavior.

"In the last three years, numbers indicate we are growing," Heinert said.

He said the number of inmates serving on the weekends has increased. On average between 12 and 16 serve their sentences this way. "I suspect that is because people who are getting sentenced are asking for that, so they don't interfere with their occupations," Heinert said. "It causes some 'headaches' and overcrowding."

To date in 2008, he estimated there has been $34,000 spent for housing prisoners outside the detention facility.

Sites used for outside housing include the Bismarck Transitional Center at a rate of $50 per day, Morton County at $60 per day and Mercer County at $60 per day.

Heinert also is negotiating a contract with McLean County when their new jail opens.

He said the numbers merit some type of expansion.

Armstrong asked if the sheriff's department was using shackles and GPS systems with some individuals to ease the space issues.

Heinert said they are using them, but are working with judges to ensure the sentencing is in sync with the right protocol of those monitored.

(Reach reporter LeAnn Eckroth at 250-8264 or leann.eckroth@bismarcktribune.com.)