Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, Montana jail in trouble before it opens doors

January 28, 2008

Construction workers are pounding nails on a $1.7 million detention and dispatch center on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.

However, by the time the jail is ready to take its first prisoner in October, the tribe won't even have enough money to pay the power bill.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs allocated $74,000 this year to pay for detaining suspects on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. The tribe estimates the actual cost hovers around $400,000.

By KIM SKORNOGOSKI Tribune Staff Writer

Full Story; http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080128/NEWS01/801280303/1002

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The Downside Of A Declining Crime Rate: Prison Closures

Plan to Close Prisons Stirs Anxiety in Rural Towns

By FERNANDA SANTOS

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/nyregion/27prison.html?ex=1202101200&en=177a187d81dcfe12&ei=5070&emc=eta1