BIA jail for Ute Tribe closed

FORT DUCHESNE — Members of the Ute Tribe who do the crime will now be doing the time 145 miles away from home or more, after the Bureau of Indian Affairs shut down its detention center here last month.

The bureau began housing newly arrested inmates in the Duchesne County Jail on Feb. 11, under a contract with the sheriff's office, according to jail commander Lt. Todd Johnson. Johnson said his facility has accepted a few tribal prisoners but had none in custody when he spoke.

"We're going to hold their new arrests and warrants," the lieutenant said. "We're just a temporary holding place for them to do court locally."

The BIA is paying $55 a day to house its inmates in the county jail and is responsible for all transportation and medical expenses. Johnson said tribal inmates cannot be bailed out in Duchesne and cannot be released into the community on their own under the terms of the agreement.

"The only way we release them is if we get an order from the tribal court," he said, "and they are not to be released to themselves. BIA will come and pick them up or another officer will pick them up and take them home."

Inmates not released after an initial court appearance will be transported by Moffatt County, Colo., corrections officers to their facility in Craig, 145 miles away from the reservation.

Moffatt County Jail Commander Lt. Dean Herndon declined to discuss details of his agency's contract with the BIA but confirmed that there were three inmates facing tribal charges being held in the jail there.

Ute Tribe Business Com- mittee Chairwoman Maxine Natchees said the closure the Fort Duchesne jail occurred without any formal notice to tribal leaders.

"We had no notice whatsoever," she said. "They didn't even give us a letter; there was just a verbal notification."

Natchees said the Business Committee is primarily concerned about the relocation of inmates to other states and the burden it places on families that will have to travel to visit incarcerated relatives. Natchees said some inmates facing longer sentences could be transferred to the McKinley County Jail in Gallup, N.M., a 17-hour round trip from the Uinta Basin.

"That is a major concern," the chairwoman said.