by Dennis Dalman
Stearns County needs a Justice Center. It’s not a matter of if, but when, and it’s going to be very expensive, costing anywhere from $200 million to as much as $300 million, depending on which one of six options is chosen.
The Minnesota Department of Corrections is urging the county to plan for a new facility because DOC inspections of the jail revealed deficiencies in the floors, walls and plumbing, as well as other inadequacies such as lack of space.
Stearns County Board of Commissioners has been reviewing the six building options. They include three options for building at the current site near the Law Enforcement Center near the courthouse and three sites not in downtown St. Cloud but within city limits. Because St. Cloud is the county seat for Stearns County, the justice center must be built in that city.
The building options in the downtown area are by far the most expensive ones, approaching $300 million. Another drawback is a downtown location would take six to 10 years to complete while an alternate site – say, on an open field – could be finished in two to four years. For that reason and others, Stearns County Sheriff Steve Soyka has said he strongly favors building on a non-downtown alternate site.
The current Stearns County Law Enforcement Center (including a 97-bed jail) was built in 1986. Besides the jail, it houses the sheriff’s department and courtrooms.
By 1995 the jail was constantly at full capacity, and the county had to stop leasing bed space to other counties. By 2003, double bunks were installed to add 28 extra beds. In the following years, spaces again became tight for the jail, and police and sheriff office areas. Renovations and remodeling began, but by 2019 it became obvious a major building project would eventually have to occur. Finally, in 2022, the Stearns County Board prepared to receive a highly detailed Needs Assessment and Master Planning study.
According to Sheriff Steve Soyka, the jail now has beds for up to 150 prisoners, and because of overcrowding the county has to lease spaces to house inmates in jails of other counties – Benton, Mille Lacs, Morrison and Wright. Stearns County spends about $500,000 every year in payments to have inmates housed elsewhere.
A new Justice Center would likely have bed space for 250 or more inmates, according to one study.
More courtroom spaces are also much needed for the work done by nine current judges.
How would a new Justice Center be paid for? Soyka has said he and many others would prefer paying for it with sales-tax revenue rather than property taxes. He said a majority of inmates (on average about 60 percent of them) are not residents of St. Cloud or Stearns County, and therefore non-county residents through a regional sales tax should help pay for the Justice Center. A sales tax for it would have to be approved by the State Legislature and then county residents would have to vote for it.
A recent needs-assessment study of the current Law Enforcement Center shows its major mechanical systems have long outpaced their original capacity. Programming spaces in the two-story jail facility are woefully inadequate, according to the study, as are medical areas and support space.
A new Justice Center would be designed to accommodate the county’s needs for at least 50 years.
Only criminal-justice related functions would be housed in the center. They would include the sheriff’s office, the jail, the county attorney’s office and the court system. The county’s administrative personnel and services would remain in their downtown St. Cloud location.
A series of town hall meetings will be scheduled this summer in order to get feedback from the public about a new Stearns County Justice Center.
