Navajo officials to feds: We need more jails

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation has an estimated population of 300,000 but only 59 jail beds in three adult detention facilities to accommodate inmates on a reservation comparable in size to the state of West Virginia.

With more than 44,000 arrests per year, Navajo jails have become little more than a revolving door, with criminals generally serving only a portion of their sentence.

Armed with such statistics, members of the Public Safety Committee and Navajo Department of Corrections traveled to Washington last week to press the case for federal funding to construct new detention facilities on Navajo, where no new adult jails have been built since 1957.

PSC Chairwoman Hope MacDonald-Lone Tree, Vice Chair Edmund Yazzie, and PSC member Kee Yazzie Mann, along with Corrections Director Delores Greyeyes met with members of Congress, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of Justice, and the Office of Management and Budget to discuss the jail crisis facing Navajo.

In June, the Senate Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee approved $15 million in Fiscal Year 2008 funding requested by U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici for jail construction throughout Indian Country. Domenici, R-N.M., serves on the subcommittee.

President Bush’s proposed FY2008 budget zeroed out funding for new jail construction in Indian Country. PSC lobbied hard in Washington and through the efforts of New Mexico and Arizona senators and representatives, the FY2007 funding level of $12 million was restored and increased to $15 million.

“The congressional delegation said that the next step then would be to make sure that Navajo is a priority for that funding for a new jail,” MacDonald-Lone Tree said Monday.

“Domenici tried twice to get us earmarks, but was not able to for some reason or other. (Sen. Jon) Kyl, I think, also tried for an earmark. So between the two of them, we were able to get them not only to restore it, but to increase it a little bit.

“The next step now is to work on the agencies and make sure Navajo is a priority,” she said.

The price tag for one new jail has been estimated at $6 million to $15 million, so even if Navajo were to get the lion’s share of the $15 million appropriation for all of Indian Country, it still would be a drop in the bucket compared to the amount required to meet its needs.

Still, MacDonald-Lone Tree is optimistic.

“We can’t build the Taj Mahal jail or criminal justice facility — we have to just build a jail facility. There are jail facilities that have been built with just $6 million, $8 million, and $10 million, so it is possible to build a jail facility for that much. We have to work internally with Executive (Branch) to see if they’re agreeable to that.

“What we need to be working on internally is getting a proposal together for a jail facility, and if it’s going to be in Tuba City, how much it would cost to include Law Enforcement and see if we can stay within the $10 million range, she said.

“We had an excellent series of meetings with the key federal officials that control the federal purse strings for tribal jail construction. I am very pleased that our plea for solutions to the Navajo jail crisis was well received and that Congress is poised to appropriate significant funding for prison construction in Indian Country.”

The Senate-House conference committee will determine the final figure for FY2008 later this year.

PSC members met with Allan Mollohan, D-WV, chair of the House Commerce Justice State Subcommittee.

“Mollohan was very receptive to the arguments of the PSC and offered to work with us to find solutions to the lack of jails in Indian Country,” MacDonald-Lone Tree said.

PSC Vice Chair Yazzie said the Navajo group was “very impressed with Chairman Mollohan’s obvious interest and commitment to work with us to address the Navajo jail crisis.”

“Mollohan has other priorities across the country, but he engaged in a lengthy dialogue with us to discuss solutions to the jail situation and we are very grateful for his time. Mr. Mollohan understands the lack of jails and how it impacts our communities – he wants to help us protect Navajo people from violent offenders,” Yazzie said.

Corrections’ Director Greyeyes helped educate Washington officials on the crisis resulting from the shut-down of the Chinle and Tuba City jail facilities. The Chinle jail closed in April after an electrical fire and the Tuba City jail finally was condemned following years of safety problems.

“Our message was simple and effective,” Greyeyes said. “The lack of detention facilities on the Navajo Nation is creating a public safety emergency for Navajo people and our communities. We will continue to fight to ensure that the final version of legislation includes funding for the Navajo Nation.”

Yazzie said Navajo is making progress in educating congressional leaders and “we will continue our efforts until we secure the funding for new jails.”