Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

My daughter come home from school a couple of days ago with an interesting story. She told me some women was at the school trying to round up kids to go on a bus trip for Helena in support of the Jail in Hardin to try to pressure the state to let them place inmates there. I don't know how much support she garnered but the trip did happen.

Backers of Hardin's empty jail protest at Capitol

The dispute over a 464-bed jail sitting empty at the edge of Hardin was on stark display here Tuesday as hundreds of Hardin-area jail supporters filled the Capitol rotunda for a rally.

Led by Greg Smith, executive director of the Two Rivers Authority, the economic-development arm of the city of Hardin, supporters took an adversarial tone, arguing that state interference has prevented them from opening the jail and offering more than 100 new jobs in their economically depressed area.

"We don't want a handout," Smith told the boisterous crowd, which included three teenage dancers from the Lodge Grass High School Indian Club along with a traditional drumming group. "But we do want some assistance."

But state officials, who met with the protesters for more than an hour after the rally, said that it is state law and the lack of need for jail space that has the facility mothballed and in danger of defaulting on $27 million in revenue bonds issued to build the jail.

Rebecca Convery, Hardin city attorney, was the women in the school, twisting arms, trying to get more people to go. When she talked to my daughters class, my daughter asked her a couple of questions that I found the answers too interesting.

My Daughter: Why did you build the jail when there was no contract or guarantee the state would place any prisoners with you?

Rebecca Convery: They didn't tell us we couldn't build it.

My Daughter: So did the state urge you to build it?

Rebecca Convery: They didn't tell us we couldn't build it.

My Daughter: Did you know that you couldn't house out of state prisoners when you built the Jail?

Rebecca Convery: They didn't tell us we couldn't house out of state prisoners and they didn't tell us we couldn't build it.

My Daughter: Did you ask if you could house out of state prisoners?

Rebecca Convery: They didn't tell us we couldn't build it.

My Daughter: Don't we have enough of a criminal element around here without importing more criminals from outside the area to infect our neighborhood.

Rebecca Convery: Attitudes like that don't help the situation out.

You kind of get the theme here don't you. The whole problem is the state didn't tell them not to build it and as a local resident you aren't supposed to ask questions about it, just support it and shut up. Doesn't it just sound like a little kid saying, you didn't tell me I couldn't? I though we were dealing with adults here. I do know from experience that you have to be real careful around Hardin talking about the jail. You ask questions about it to the wrong people and ropes come out to hang you with. I thought questioning what politicians do is part of our process. Not in Hardin nowadays. Toe the party line or die.

I did have to laugh at this one.

Much of the crowd's anger was directed at Gov. Brian Schweitzer. One protester held a sign that said "We've Been Schweitzered. Was It As Good For You Governor As It Was For Us."

Now I am not one to defend Schweitzer, but how is this his fault? Shouldn't the crowd be angry at the Hardin politicians that funded and built the facility without planning ahead to make sure there would be inmates to fill it? Who's really at fault here?

I will point out that in this story or anywhere else do we see the county of Big Horn or any local legislators supporting Hardin in this process. Do you think the City of Hardin might have stepped on a few toes along the way? I know they have and it is now coming back to bite them on the arse. All i know is the saga of the Hardin jail continues. Where it will end, who knows, but watching the process is fun.

Luck, bad if not good, will always be with us. But it has a way of favoring the intelligent and showing its back to the stupid. John Dewey

I wonder why it takes a Legislator that lives almost 300 miles away to start questioning the deal with the Hardin Jail.

A state lawmaker from Butte has asked corrections officials and representatives of Hardin to explain why a $27 million jail was built in the southern Montana city but now sits empty.

Sen. Steve Gallus, a Democrat, wants the officials to appear next Tuesday in Helena before the state Corrections Advisory Council, which he co-chairs.

Hardin officials working with a Texas prison-building consortium last year sought to house out-of-state inmates at the newly built Two Rivers Detention Center.

They were blocked by state Attorney General Mike McGrath. He said state law prohibits county jails from signing contracts for out-of-state prisoners.

I've said all along that the local legislators need to get involved in this situation. Now some guy from Butte is. What is wrong with the local Legislators on this issue? Are they afraid if the place opens it will be there home? That's the only thing I can figure.

Everyone of us is a wonder. Everyone of us has a story. Kristin Hunter

The Hardin jail saga just keeps going on. Is that any surprise with a $20 million dollar facility? Now the city if Hardin and Two Rivers Authority, the economic development authority, have sued the State to overturn the Attorney General's opinion. Not once have we heard about any Legislative remedy that might fix this problem. Let's just run to the courts for our solution. Having just been through some legal proceedings of my own, I can guarantee you the only thing the Judaical process does is piss money away into the lawyers pockets. The Judaical route is one very expensive way to go. I guess if you are $27 million in the hole with no end in sight, what does it matter if you piss away you money.

There is a second article in the paper about the Jail supporters trying to get support from the Hardin business community. You will note they don't say they got the support, just that they were looking for it. Another interesting little tidbit.

The 12 members agreed to send a letter to the Big Horn County Commission, asking the board to support the project or explain why it will not do so. The chamber board is expected to complete a letter to the commissioners next week, so the members can get on an agenda and attend a meeting to get the response before the first of the year.

The county has not thrown support to the project, including declining to sign an interlocal agreement to partner with Two Rivers so the facility would qualify as multijurisdictional.

So, the County doesn't appear to be supporting this. Not a surprise to me. The city of Hardin and the County have had a very contentious relationship over the years with the city screwing the county over every chance they get and the County is very tired of it. It will be interesting to see if the County responds to the letter.

They said the lawsuit is the only option left for Hardin.

Should we translate this a little bit? Since they can't get any local support from Legislators to change the law, which would be the appropriate way to handle this, we are going to have to rely on a sympathetic Judge to get our point across.

I note that they filed suit in Helena and not in Hardin for this little legal action. Does that say something about the local perception of the Jail, Two Rivers Authority, and some of the backers of the jail mentioned in the story? I'll guarantee you it does.

Local politics and old feuds, ain't they fun.

That action is best which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers. Francis Hutcheson

The knife has finally fallen on the Hardin "detention facility." The Attorney General has decided the law states that only the Department of Corrections has authority to take out of state prisoners.

A multijurisdictional detention center may contract for the confinement of out-of-state and federal inmates only for the purposes authorized in Montana law, which do not include confinement of adult felony and misdemeanor offenders who are committed by an out-of-state jurisdiction or the federal government. That authority has been reserved to the Department of Corrections, under narrow circumstances only, which evidences a legislative intent not to allow routine interstate exchange of inmates in and out of Montana.

Maybe Two Rivers Authority should have looked at this a little closer before they built the damn thing. Now there sits a 20 million dollar jail, empty, accruing more debt and what can be done?

I don't see much that can be done in the short term. In the long term maybe the state representatives and senators in the area need to introduce a bill to change the law and allow the facility to take prisoners. Do you know what we hear from these representatives of the people? Not shit. They could care less. It looks like Hardin is really screwed on this one. If you build it, I guess they don't come after all.

Don't give your advice before you are called upon. Desiderius Erasmus

You might remember me mentioning the Hardin Prison a couple of times and how stupid it was for the local economic development entity to build it when they weren't sure they could put prisoners in it. Now it turns out the director of Two Rivers Authority, the economic development authority who built the prison, is running away moving on and now works for Cody Wyoming's economic development authority.

They appear to just love him in Cody. I really wonder if he is moving on, running away, or was run out of Hardin for spending 20 million dollars and having a big boondoggle standing there empty. Would you hire him after screwing the Hardin area over so bad? I wouldn't.

I know he says he is still trying to get the Hardin facility running but I don't believe a word of it. Run away from the problem and don't look back is more like it. Shouldn't he have stayed on in Hardin until the jail he built is open and in operation? I would sure think so. I wonder how is going to screw Cody up.

To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill. Aristotle

The Hardin Jail I talked about earlier looks like it might be in a hell of a pickle. The Montana Attorney General feels that the "facility" can not house out of state inmates. This could be a killer. I'm glad I didn't invest in this "Jail of Dreams."

Two Rivers Authority, who built the "facility," claims that there were plenty of Montana inmates to fill the thing to capacity so no problems were seen getting inmates. They also claim that there is no such thing as getting contracts ahead of time. I personally think they went into this thing with their eyes shut, only looking at what they wanted to and not looking for potential problems. They knew going in that the housing of out of state prisoners was a long shot at best. The changes made in Montana law that came about after the private Shelby "facility" was built made sure of that.

"If you build it, they will come." Not as philosophy to build a detention "facility" under but the dreamers in Hardin tried it. Now who is going to bail them out from the dilemma they blindly walked into? I'm sure I will have to through my taxes since it's the quasi governmental, quasi private economic development authority that built the damn thing. We will see though.

Question. Why do we call jails, detention facilities now days? Does the bigger name sound better somehow? What is wrong with calling it a jail? Wish I knew.

Faith is like a kernel of wheat. Joe Bob Briggs