Crime and Punishment
Officials concerned over jail space

A Corridor at the Window Rock Correctional Facility sits vacant on Tuesday afternoon. The Window Rock jail has been in use for the past 50 years to hold misdemeanor criminals. The average length of time for a criminal at the prison is 90 days. Former inmates are currently coming forward with complaints about the facilities specifically the restroom and shower facilities. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

By Natasha Kaye Johnson
Diné Bureau

A pair of tables inside one the holding cells at the Window Rock Correctional Facility sits vacant on Tuesday afternoon. The nearest table has Chinle carved into it in Old English lettering. Many inmates from the different correctional districts are brought to the Window Rock Jail because it is the largest facility on the Navajo Nation and is intended for holding inmates over a long period of time. The average length of time for a criminal at the prison is 90 days. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

WINDOW ROCK — The lack of jail facilities on the Navajo Nation has become a pinnacle of concern for officials.

While the Nation has an estimated population of over 250,000 people, and covers over 27,000 square miles of land, the number of inmates that the Nation can hold at one time overnight is next to nothing.

"We're the size of Rhode Island and we have only 82 beds," said Delores Greyeyes, Director of Department of Corrections. "That's nothing. Its just unreal."

Greyeyes said that most jails in any one location can hold more than 100 people, but when it comes to the Navajo Nation, that's just not the case.

The problem comes down to one word: money. And the department just doesn't have it.

"We just have no funding to build the facilities," said Greyeyes. "There's money out there to build schools and other public buildings, but when it comes to jails, nobody wants to put money out there."

7 facilities
The Nation has seven jail facilities, but only three that can house inmates overnight.

Previous to the early 1990's, the Navajo Nation was able to hold more than three times the number of inmates than they can now. But that changed after 1992 when a group of individuals who were confined at various jails filed a complaint against the Navajo Nation, saying that the jails were overcrowded, unsanitary and lacking in access to medical care.

An investigation was conducted, and the Navajo Nation District Court issued a consent decree ordering that all jail facilities allow 50 square ft per person in holding cells. The decree also specified sanitation requirements, health screening policies, meal nutrition requirements, and other standards.

Apparent need
Since then, the need for jail facilities has become even more apparent. The fact that the facilities are over 50 years old, Greyeyes said, doesn't help either.

"It's a situation where we're being challenged," said Greyeyes.

In July, Judge Allen Sloan ordered that Tuba City jail be reduced to a 8-hour holding cell from a 48-hour holding cell, after receiving recommendations from the EPA concerning the poor conditions of the facility. The Chinle jail was also ordered to become a 12-hour holding cell, for the same reasons.

The order has made the current situation even more challenging to officials.

With the growing population and increased crime rate on the Navajo Nation, officials admit that they are not able to meet the growing needs, they must work with what they have and they must plan for the future.

Greyeyes said the department has actively been securing land across the Nation to build jail facilities, and has acquired 50 acres in Crownpoint to build a facility. Greyeyes said the department is working with an architect to begin looking at jail designs, but there is no date set for when the building for the project will begin.

"It's a long drawn out process," said Greyeyes. "You kind of wonder why nobody did anything about it. It's been going on for years upon years."

"As long as the Navajo Nation has been in operation, there has been no master plan to put a road map together to say we're going to address this deficiency," said Greyeyes.

But even if facilities do go up, finding the money to maintain them is a whole new can of worms.

"Part of the fear is if we have big facilities, how are we going to operate them," said Greyeyes.

Jail charge
Officials said they have looked into the possibility of charging for administrative costs within the system to help cover the costs. But until that day comes around, officials are having to deal with the limited jail space on a daily basis.

When the courts order jail time, they have to take into consideration the available jail space.

If there is no room in the jails, the courts and prosecutors must make arrangements so that people committing more serious crimes are incarcerated.

Inmates serving jail time are then re-evaluated by corrections and parole officers, who give recommendations to the prosecutor's office about possibly releasing them early, or giving them alternative sentencing.

"We have to coordinate with them (prosecutors and courts), and then they decide whose going to leave and who's going to come in," said Barbara Crawford, corrections supervisor.

Senior Prosecutor Leonard Livingston said the office has to facilitate with the jails and courts to ensure that the more serious offenders are kept behind bars. He said some cases are given flexibility, depending upon recommendations and preliminary investigations.

"We try to work with them (jails) ... and the demands from the court," said Livingston.

"If someone is a danger to public, we'll keep that person as much as we can," said Livingston. "Our focus is to protect the public interest of the people."

Some of the more serious crimes for which Crawford said people are incarcerated are aggravated battery, sexual assault, vehicular homicide and domestic violence. Those who convicted of charges that fall under the Major Crimes Act are sent to federal jail facilities.

"We (law enforcement) always get the blame," said Samson Cowboy, Director of Public Safety. "(But) there's factors involved with how the law works."

"It's the prosecutors' job to keep the individual incarcerated or be released, not the police officers or the correction officer," he said. "Yet it's just focused on us because we have the facilities."

No revenue
Because a jail facility doesn't generate revenue, Livingston said it isn't high on the priority list for leaders. For Livingston, it comes down to the federal government not fulfilling its trust responsibility.

"It is a concern," said Livingston. "The public should be rightly concerned about it."