StutsCourthouseJamestown (CSi) The Stutsman County/City of Jamestown Jail Committee has recommended hiring Klein McCarthy Architects to conduct an analysis of the Stutsman County Correctional Center to determine if the center can be expanded to meet future needs.

The $60,000 contract with Klein McCarthy would be done through the county and will need approval of the County Commission.The study is being funded by the county and City of Jamestown, which would have to formally approve hiring the firm.

The jail committee consists of Mark Klose and Dave Schwartz of the Stutsman County Commission; Mayor Katie Andersen and Ramone Gumke of the City Council; Stutsman County Sheriff Chad Kaiser; Jamestown Police Chief Scott Edinger; and Chad Johnson, Stutsman County Correctional Center administrator.

The problem with the existing jail, which can hold up to 96 inmates, is that 48 of those inmates must be paying inmates, such as federal inmates or inmates from other state corrections centers. At the end of June the correctional center was averaging 41 paying inmates and 46 non-paying inmates, a trend that was expected to continue through the rest of 2015.

　

Since a jail study was done in 2012, the county has made operational changes to the correctional center, including setting minimum staffing levels and using technology to make the correctional center as efficient as possible.