Minnehaha Could Ask Counties to Help with Jail

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead says officials could ask surrounding counties to help support the cost of an expanded jail.

The Argus Leader reports that the cost sharing is one of many options on the table as county officials wrestle with a jail that is on average more than 98 percent full. The jail on many days exceeds its 400-bed capacity.

About a quarter of the county's jail population are inmates from the federal government, the state Department of Corrections or surrounding counties that lack sufficient jail facilities. Those entities pay Minnehaha County to hold their inmates.

Milstead says that as county officials start addressing future needs, "we may have to knock on their door."

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.