Navajo Corrections – 61 beds for 38,540 inmates

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Navajo Department of Corrections suffered a resounding defeat Thursday when the Public Safety Committee failed to approve legislation sponsored by Committee Chair Hope MacDonald-LoneTree regarding the redesign of adult and juvenile detention facilities.

The Department of Corrections is “status quo. We’re back to square one. We don’t have any facilities for adults,” Delores Greyeyes, director, said after the vote.

That means that the Navajo Nation has 61 beds to accommodate the 38,540 inmates incarcerated each year.

“There was a miscommunication presented to the public about the conversion of Western Juvenile into an adult facility, which was never the case. It was all about Chinle,” Greyeyes said.

The miscommunication resulted in a strong showing of representatives from Western Juvenile at the Public Safety Committee meeting, where they pleaded their case.

As part of the redesign, it was proposed that the Department of Corrections assume full operation of Western Navajo Juvenile Services as a Navajo Nation program, with Corrections operating under one contract, scope of work, and annual funding agreement to cover detention services for both adult and juvenile services.

“We have three juvenile facilities and all of them are under capacity. Both Chinle and Tuba City have an average of three to five inmates for the whole year, with 36 beds that they have,” MacDonald-LoneTree said.

The proposed redesign would have converted Chinle Youth Corrections to an adult facility and combined adult and juvenile detention funding streams to help improve service. Juveniles arrested in the Chinle district would have been transported to Western Juvenile in Tuba City for detainment.

A transport team would have been created to transport juveniles back and forth to either Western Juvenile or the Tohatchi Youth facility.

Greyeyes said annual reviews audit findings against the subcontract at Western Juvenile were the basis for part of the redesign.

In a Dec. 3 letter to Richard Grey, president of the Western Navajo Juvenile Services Coordinating Committee, Greyeyes wrote that after careful consideration, Corrections “has decided that it is in the best interest of the Navajo Nation not to subcontract services at the Tuba City Juvenile Detention Facility.”

Corrections planned to assume responsibility for operation of the facility Jan. 1.

The Public Safety vote puts not only thousands of members of the Navajo public at risk from violent crime, but also Navajo Nation Police officers.

MacDonald-LoneTree recounted the story of a visit Greyeyes made to Tuba City.

“There was an officer sitting there trying to decide whether or not to do a complaint or police report because one of the arrestees was threatening to kill her, and she didn’t know whether to file a complaint or report because he’s not going to be arrested. He will come after her,” she said.

The Department of Corrections operates under a consent decree which places strict mandates on the department for housing of adult inmates.

Mandates
In order to meet the mandates set forth in the 1992 Silver vs. Pahe Consent Decree, the Division of Public Safety must provide 50 square feet of space for all serving inmates. New arrestees can be held for less than 48 hours if there is not space to meet the 50-square-foot requirement.

All inmates must be served diets of 2,200 calories and be provided a change of bedding and clothing twice a week, as well as showers, medical and legal referrals if requested, and visitation and maintenance of contact with family members via telephone or letters.

Corrections cannot use “lack of funds or resources” as a reason for not meeting the mandates of the consent decree.

Greyeyes said many liability issues have arisen following closure of the Tuba City and Chinle adult detention facilities due to temporary housing arrangements for the inmate population. “In order to eradicate these liability issues, the proposed conversion of the juvenile facilities is the only available resource at this time.”

The Tuba City and Chinle adult facilities together house more than 15,144 individuals each year, or nearly half of the overall 38,540 Navajo individuals incarcerated.

Modulars
Greyeyes said Corrections is looking at reopening the jail modulars in Tuba City, “but we don’t have the food service or laundry services.” Because of the consent decree, she said, “We really can’t open the facilities and use them again. If we do use them it would be for very short-term holds.”

“In Window Rock we have 33 beds,” Greyeyes said.

“Shiprock we’re down to 14 beds – 8 male and 6 female. We had to close the upper section of the jail because of the heating problems. We have 14 beds in Crownpoint. That’s it.”

The Nation also has 20 beds under contract with the Gallup McKinley Adult Detention Facility “and those are full to capacity and beyond most of the time,” housing long-term inmates, Greyeyes said.

“Pre-trials and new arrestees, we’re pretty much loading them in and putting them in Window Rock and then we have to haul them back the following day. In the last three months we’ve had to close Window Rock twice for water problems. So if we have to close that on any long-term, we really don’t have any adult facilities,” she said.

U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici of New Mexico have joined a bipartisan group of senators urging President Bush to double funding levels for Indian Country detention facilities when he unveils his budget priorities in February.

“As you consider your funding priorities for the Fiscal Year 2009 budget, please be mindful of a public safety crisis in Indian Country,” the senators said in a recent letter to Bush.

“The current funding levels for tribal prison construction through DOJ, and operation, maintenance, facility improvement, and repair of existing facilities through BIA are woefully deficient.

“Consequently, in order to fulfill the United States’ trust responsibility to Native Americans and to begin addressing the public safety crisis in Indian Country, we urge you to at least double these funding levels in your FY 2009 budget,” they said.