Beltrami Co. Board Votes to Demolish Current Jail After New Facility is Completed

After months of discussion, the Beltrami County Board has voted to demolish the current jail facility in downtown Bemidji once the new jail is completed in the city’s industrial park.

The Board of Commissioners had been debating between three options over the past few weeks. The option to demolish the current jail was the cheapest one and has an estimated cost of just over $6 million.

The chosen option also includes constructing a sally port, a gated security area that would be used as a controlled entryway to the Judicial Center building. The 13,000-square-foot lot will be converted into a parking lot until future developments are decided.

“It does preserve a portion of the campus for something in the future at its maximum potential or maximum build footprint,” explained Beltrami County Administrator Tom Barry. “You know, we’re not growing more land downtown. We’re already somewhat constrained on the campus that we have now. We don’t want to consume any more taxable land and take that off the the taxable roll. And so instead, we need to be better stewards of preserving and repurposing existing land that we have.”

The vote passed 4-0, with District 2 Commissioner Joe Gould absent from the meeting.

Officials involved with the new jail project say that it is moving as scheduled, and that an operational jail is expected to be completed by the spring of 2027. Once the jail is operational, the county will begin demolition of the current jail while transporting inmates to the new jail.