Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
The Lake Region Law Enforcement Center, which serves Ramsey, Benson, Towner, Eddy and Nelson counties, received official confirmation on Jan. 16, that the Temporary Order for Closure and the Order Suspending the Temporary Order for Closure on the Lake Region Correctional Facility (LRCF) has been vacated effective Jan. 14. This order comes after having worked with the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (NDDOCR) for over a year.
The Temporary Closure had been ordered after an unscheduled inspection was conducted Aug. 2, 2017, following Eddy County inmate Seth Suko’s escape on July 5 when the facility failed to discover that escape for over 30 hours. Following the inspection, the DOCR threatened the LRCC with closure based on a report that detailed numerous violations, including a lack of written policies and procedures, undertrained staff and the need to address medical care within the facility. Staff training and the supervision of staff was identified as a critical need but the most important critical need was the need to address the medical care within the facility.
The LRCF was out of compliance in 40 out of 108 Standards. One of the most glaring violations regarded inmate count standards within the facility. North Dakota Jail Standards mandate that there must be a minimum of three formal counts within each 24-hour period, one of them must be completed outside a shift change and one must be a standing count. The LRCF had a written policy and procedure in place, but the Suko escape showed that staff did not comply with their own policy and procedures. As a result, Suko’s absence was not noticed for well over a day.The LRCF was unable to provide a copy of its suicide prevention plan and had not been requiring fire drills. The report also showed that staff did not know how to manually override the locking system in the event of a fire or power outage.
They were informed that the order of temporary closure would be suspended if they came into compliance with several requirements. These requirements included immediately hiring or contracting with a medical doctor to act as the Health Care Authority and submitting policies to the state that comply with standards.
Federal inmates were removed from the facility as LRCF worked to come into compliance on the many issues outlined by the Temporary Order of Closure. Staff worked closely with the NDDOCR to bring the facility into compliance with the North Dakota’s current jail standards.
An inspection of the Lake Region Correctional Facility on Nov. 20, 2018 found the facility and its operations to be fully compliant with North Dakota Jail Standards. With this order vacated, Rob Johnson, LRCF’s administrator, said they are now able to begin housing offenders from contract entities.
“Communications have begun with existing contracts, and there are plans to have additional offenders moved into the facility,” Johnson wrote in a press release Thursday, Jan. 17. “However, it is our intention to progressively increase our population and ensure that we maintain the elevated safety and security standards that we have established.”
“I would like to publicly thank the NDDOCR for their guidance and assistance through this process. The order was a difficult thing to endure, but it was justified and necessary,” Johnson wrote. “I want to formally recognize our staff for their dedication and commitment to making the necessary improvements and changes to meet these standards. The industry is one of, if not the most stressful work environment there is, and when these additional expectations are added it only compounds that stress.”
