Cass County to Contract with Itasca County to House Jail Inmates

The Cass County Board of Commissioners recently entered into an agreement with Itasca County to house inmates on behalf of Cass County for the next three years. This is a change from an agreement with Crow Wing County, where inmates from Cass County were previously sent.

Cass County contracts 40 beds with Crow Wing County and will terminate the existing agreement effective May 31, 2024. Cass County Sheriff Bryan Welk says the agreement with Itasca County is also for 40 beds at a $56 dollar rate per day, which would save approximately $170,000 dollars a year.

“We also see some opportunities with mental health beds,” adds Sheriff Welk. “Itasca County has four or five dedicated mental health beds with a full-time psychiatrist embedded in their facility. So we felt that is an opportunity for us and our inmates to have a service that is new to the corrections world, at least up here.”

Cass County will have access to the mental health wing and will be charged $80 dollars per day until an inmate is transferred out of the jail.