Olmsted County to Receive Detainees from Ramsey County Jail
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- The Olmsted County Adult Detention Center is set to receive detainees from Ramsey County.
The Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) ordered the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office to reduce the capacity in its jail earlier this month. DOC officials say staffing shortages at the Ramsey County Adult Detention Center is creating an unsafe environment for inmates.
“We will very likely get people that are either in sentence so they’re people who don’t have to go to court on a routine basis,” Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson said during an interview Monday on KROC-AM’s Rochester Today.
Torgerson says the county is expected to get detainees who won’t have to regularly appear in court due to the distance between Rochester and St. Paul. He said detainees who have frequent court dates are being transferred to other Twin Cities area jails.
Torgerson said Ramsey County will pay Olmsted County for the detainees food, clothing, health care and other day-to-day costs associated with housing detainees.
The Olmsted County jail has avoided staffing issues that have plagued other jails in Minnesota. The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office’s annual report says the Adult Detention Center hired 15 new detention deputies last year.
Torgerson did not say how many detainees from Ramsey County are coming to Olmsted County. He says the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center is staffed by 99 people, 96 of which are detention deputies who are charged with looking after the wellbeing of detainees.
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