Stimulus Funding Is Earmarked For Detention Centers On Reservation

By Tammy Gray-Searles
   Nearly $74 million in federal stimulus funds will be used to construct three sorely needed adult detention centers on the Navajo Nation.
   President Joe Shirley Jr. announced Sept. 23 that the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety and judicial branch staff had successfully sought $73.3 million in funding for the new centers.
   Although the three new centers do not fulfill Shirley’s goal of building 12 all-in-one justice centers across the Navajo Nation, they will replace aging facilities that pose health and safety risks. According to Shirley, nearly $500 million would be necessary to build the justice centers he envisioned, which would have included detention, court and police facilities.
   The new centers to be built with the federal funding will include not only jail cells, but also offices for pre-trial services as well as space for inmate programs designed to reduce the incarceration rate.
   Funding for the project comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and is also intended to provide construction jobs, as well as long-term work for corrections officers and other support personnel.
   Although proposals were also submitted for detention centers in Dilkon and Kayenta, the facilities approved for construction will be located in Tuba City, Chinle and Ramah, N.M.
   According to Shirley, $38.5 million will be used to construct a 48-bed detention center in Tuba City, $31 million for a 38-bed facility in Kayenta and $3.8 million for a small facility in Ramah.
   In his announcement Shirley noted, “The centers will provide space for a range of culturally-appropriate services to inmates from pre-trial services, alternatives to incarceration and services while individuals are serving time in jail.”
   Navajo Nation Public Safety Director Samson Cowboy explained that the old facilities in Tuba City and Chinle have already been demolished to make way for the new centers. The Ramah facility, which has presented a number of problems for law enforcement officials, will also be completely replaced.
   Cowboy noted, “Originally designed as a holding facility, the Ramah jail has been used to house long-term inmates and has created severe overcrowding conditions. Other problems in the current facility concern structural deterioration. This includes a faulty roof and cracks in walls and no accessibility standards.”
   President Shirley praised the projects and receipt of the funding, noting that construction of new jails would help the Navajo Nation’s entire criminal justice system.
   “It’s a major accomplishment to at last receive this jail funding so we have a place to put perpetrators,” Shirley said. “Our law enforcement officers will finally see offenders they catch stay in jail.”
   In addition to the jail funding, the Navajo Nation’s judicial branch was also awarded $450,000 for a Navajo Peacemaker Youth Education and Apprentice Program. According to Shirley, the program will “establish and use a curriculum for traditional teaching that blends Navajo peacemaking and western best practices and therapies for dispute resolution, violence prevention and community building in schools.”
   The goal of the program is to prevent juvenile delinquency, and eventually reduce the number of youth and adults in the criminal justice system. It will include education for youth and adults on gangs, truancy, school dropouts, parenting, after school programs and will also include intervention programs for “court-involved youth.”