FOLEY -- Benton County is taking a look at updating the county jail.

A recent inspection by the Minnesota Department of Corrections determined the jail operates at a high level of compliance, but it is lacking enough intake holding cells.

Sheriff Troy Heck says they currently have two holding cells that accommodate multiple suspects and one single-cell intake area...

We have a need for more individual cells in our intake to really supervise and separate people. So, we have been exploring the option of remodeling our intake area to get more of those individualized cells and move away from this 30-year-old idea of just putting multiple people in the same cell.

County Administrator Monty Headley says they had an architectural design completed a few years ago that estimated the cost to remodel the jail would be about $1,000,000. He says a new estimate will be needed before county commissioners decide if or when the remodel would go forward.

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The building that houses the Benton County Sheriff's Office and the Benton County Jail is approximately 30-years-old.

 

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