BIA shuts 'unsafe' jail in Pine Ridge Security issue: Prisoners moved to tribal facility By Kevin Woster, Journal staff Saturday, August 09, 2008 In yet another sign of problems facing the criminal justice system on Native American lands, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has closed its jail in Pine Ridge because of deteriorating conditions that officials say made it unsafe for both inmates and staff.
BIA officials shut down the jail Thursday evening and transferred prisoners to a newer tribal detention facility about a mile and a half away, Oglala Sioux Tribe Police Chief Joe Herman said Friday.
"We made an orderly transition from the old jail to a new adult offenders' facility, which the tribe built three or four years ago," Herman said. "The BIA deemed the old jail unsafe for human occupation because of health and safety and security issues."
Herman said he was not sure how many prisoners were transferred, but he said the tribal-owned Convicted Offenders Facility had enough room to accommodate the increased population until BIA could arrange another option. The BIA jail was used to house prisoners charged with crimes but waiting for court action; the tribal facility is for those already sentenced, he said.
The BIA jail needed to be closed, Herman said. But he was disappointed that the tribe was not told further in advance that the shutdown was coming.
"I'm not happy with the way it was conducted," he said. "It was a little sudden, no real dialogue between the tribe and the BIA, other than to make an unannounced visit, then close it up. It was kind of disrespectful."
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said the closure was an example of the troubling array of problems facing law enforcement and courts on Native American reservations in South Dakota and other states. Thune agreed that the jail needed to be closed, but he also said that it "seemed like a fairly abrupt action to take."
Thune met Friday in Fort Pierre with tribal leaders to discuss law enforcement problems and other issues. A similar meeting with tribal leaders last summer inspired Thune, he said, to push for more money for the criminal justice system on Native American reservations, including a recent amendment to a larger spending bill that authorized up to $750 million over 10 years to be spent on Native law enforcement and court programs.
Thune also co-sponsored the Tribal Law and Order Act, which would beef up the prosecution of violent crimes on reservations, expand tribal court authority and expand police training.
Of the $750 million for law enforcement on reservations, $370 million would be directed at improving and increasing detention facilities there. Thune said the jail closing in Pine Ridge is another example of the crucial law-enforcement needs.
"It sounds like that jail was just a train wreck in terms of a facility," Thune said. "There has been so much neglect for such a long time, we have detention facilities on the reservations that are in complete state of disrepair."
Thune said the BIA was moving some prisoners to a better facility in Kyle and erecting some short-term detention center in Pine Ridge. Whatever the short-term solution, the long-term issue is improving citizen safety overall, Thune said.
"We need to improve the criminal justice system on that reservation so that people have a basic level of safety and security that every citizen of this country deserves," he said.
Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or
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