3 days Ago By Kjersti Maday
FARGO — A total of 52 inmates from the Cass County Jail are forced to stay somewhere else because the jail is beyond capacity. Jail leadership says they're more than ready for the jail's addition to be done, but in the meantime, they're managing. Capt.
Andrew Frobig, the Cass County Jail administrator, said staff is doing everything they can to find a place for all their inmates. The ones not being housed at the jail are at nearby county jails, under house arrest, receiving in-patient treatment for substance use or behavioral issues, he said. Fargo's population growth, delays in court proceedings and an increase in violent crime in the area have all contributed to the jail reaching capacity, he said.
Frobig said the addition to the jail should be done in April. It will add 192 beds; an almost 60% increase over the jail's current capacity. "We are getting to the point where we're running out of space at all the other facilities as well," he said.
"And I really don't know what the next step is going to be after, you know, we run out of levers to pull on, certainly hoping that we'll have enough space and we'll get by until we get that new addition built." He said the jail is projected to have room above its current capacity for the next 10 years. However, he said population growth in the Fargo-Moorhead metro area already is ahead of those projections, so overall capacity could be less than that in coming years.
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