New Native American hires at Two Rivers; Zina Knows His Gun, Cheyenne; William Smells, Crow; Tristan Costa, Crow, Shandon Wallowing, Cheyenne, Jade Snell, Crow, Steve Archambault, Asssinboine, Ken Keller, Warden. Photo by Native Sun News

Indian inmates from Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota are being housed in a new detention facility under a contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

According to the Associated Press, the BIA is paying Emerald Correctional Management about $70 per inmate per day at the Two Rivers Regional Detention Facility in Hardin, Montana. The 464-bed center is near the Crow Reservation and the Northern Cheyenne Reservation but it's a much farther drive from the Blackfeet Nation, where inmates were suddenly removed without notice, Chairman Harry Barnes said.

“They showed up on a Friday and said they were going to tear the [Blackfeet] jail down Monday," Barnes told the AP. Hardin is a 380-mile drive from the reservation.

The $27 million facility has a checkered past -- it sat empty for years before finally opening last month. It was financed by the city of Hardin.

Separate from the BIA contract, the facility has an agreement with the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of North Dakota to house the tribe's inmates.

Get the Story:
Jail with checkered past takes in Native American inmates to fill empty cells (AP 10/9)

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Native Sun News: Facility in Montana set to house Indian inmates (8/27)