Southern Ute Indian Tribe in Colorado to close jail

DURANGO, Colo. (AP) - A Native American tribe in Colorado has announced plans to close its detention center due to increasing operation costs.

Council members from the Southern Ute Indian Tribe decided this week to close the facility by year’s end, The Durango Herald reports . The tribe said it costs about $2 million a year to run the jail.

The facility “serves very few Southern Ute tribal members but costs millions of dollars to operate,” the tribe said in a news release.

The jail, which opened in 1999, can hold up to 57 inmates but has had a daily average population of 13 people this year, according to the release. Most of those inmates are not Southern Utes.

Lindsay Box, a spokeswoman for the Southern Ute Tribe, did not immediately respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment. The newspaper also unsuccessfully tried to reach council members.

Inmates could be sent to the La Plata County Jail or the new Archuleta County Jail opening in 2020.

The La Plata County Jail has experienced inmate overcrowding, staff shortages and budget issues. But the jail’s top administrator, Capt. Ed Aber, said once Archuleta County’s jail opens, the 22 or so inmates kept in the La Plata jail should free up some room, he said.

The Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office was not immediately available for comment.

Some tribal members said the Southern Ute government did not properly communicate the decision to the community and worried the tribe’s sovereignty could be compromised by sending Native American inmates off tribal lands.

No plans for the detention center building have yet been decided once it is vacated, the tribe said.

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Information from: Durango Herald, http://www.durangoherald.com