Commissioners to decide jail's fate Friday

Mineral County commissioners will decide on Friday, June 7 whether or not to contract with a nonprofit private prison CEO to reopen the detention center which closed in January due to staff shortages. Commissioners met with Mike Thatcher, the CEO of Community, Counseling and Correctional Services Incorporated (CCCS), on Tuesday, May 28 to discuss leasing the facility from the county. Thatcher toured the jail with county officials to see if he would be interested and there was a public meeting afterward to discuss ideas. One idea was that Thatcher would reserve 16 beds while the remaining ten beds would be reserved for Mineral County inmates. For example, Thatcher’s reserved beds could be used for overflow probationary inmates from Lake County while the county’s reserved beds would be used for criminals arrested in Mineral County. Thatcher also discussed having a treatment center in the county down the road as an additional facility to help the program, and to add and maintain jobs. “It’s a longer-term treatment concept,” Thatcher said. “That’s something you should parallel to the discussion.” Thatcher says treatment facilities are a niche operation, and the county has potential to have separate programing. ANOTHER OPTION in addition to a contract with Thatcher for commissioners to consider is creating a Temporary Contractual Agreement for Coordinating Position. County residents Denyse Traeder, Diane Magone and Judy Stang proposed the idea to commissioners at the May 31 meeting for the position to jumpstart the process for reopening the jail. The proposal entails hiring a temporary person on a 3- to 6-month contract who will be responsible for “exploring the options available to reopen the county detention center in a timely manner and performing all duties that would accomplish this goal,” according to the proposal. The coordinator would create foundational procedures to recruit and retain employees. Traeder says the coordinator position could potentially work in tandem with CCCS and work together to reopen the jail. However, some residents don’t believe a coordinator would be necessary. Former detention officer Brandy Taylor says a Jail Administrator should be responsible for these duties. “What I’m hearing is, we want to hire someone to hire people to hire people,” Taylor said. She says the coordinator position is the definition of what a jail administrator is supposed to be.

AS A former detention officer, Taylor says the main reason staff left the position was because there was no definitive chain of command. Officers didn’t feel adequately trained and there weren’t clear authorities to report to. “Complaints get lost in the sauce,” she said. This is why officials reached out to CCCS to lease the facility. “They are operating the best programs,” said Lance Jasper, a Superior resident and attorney. “It’s certainly worth hearing from.” The county hopes if Thatcher steps in, he can use his expertise to reopen and operate the jail. “Thatcher is a big player in corrections,” Donohue said at a May 20 meeting. Thatcher started the nonprofit in 1983 which was then called Butte Pre-Release Center, Incorporated, and he now runs 13 facilities in Montana, Washington and North Dakota. Facilities in Butte include the pre-release and treatment programs and correctional facilities. CCCS employees grew from 13 to 559 full- and part-time employees, according to the CCCS website. Commissioners will review Thatcher’s proposal on Friday, June 7 and make a decision at that time.