[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6230765,"mediaKeyId","3441999-7d4b9af805fa058065e28e02c1077487","parentId",3441999,"title","Scott County officials: jail population down but cases and health needs are more complex","audioSeconds",4061,"startMs",2854620,"endMs",6916265,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3441999-7d4b9af805fa058065e28e02c1077487&start=2854&end=6916","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3441999-7d4b9af805fa058065e28e02c1077487/thumbnail_2854620.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6230765/Scott-County/Minnesota/Scott-County-officials-jail-population-down-but-cases-and-health-needs-are-more-complex","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6230765-15fb58decd8dd142b0957c5cf457ea9a/orig.mp4?Expires=1770430976&Signature=WshOTqP5B4JXuj0Ftb2OqFWCk~tfqB4~QVLqffEFVMd6IzqpZupdOrfLnYEGT85H7dXfWzg8aaYqvyxNnJ8K7nQk6wDPRyWAkDU~984p11sS2Z2dbORxTaC8iw4QvRJkg25bePzmRRrhgtosBrbQZWgxgJs~nsmhOWW10OgQRobZJWryXcVSUfp6AT9tfK~8-uyVPSM9hVUeQaZDpwAYFskg-YC~zBJr9EqbtjgQ-gKjK1nSnD8cZSV2BLdHms9lxPKGdwFsK45-nCweUx3TU8AJQ~l2DrYj9ck4N6vsHfMS3d5vC0w7EMS8s8T~QYHD~tmM2biH8By0kjXrCm8gCg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Scott County, MN","date","2025-05-22T08:13:39.03Z","article","Scott County officials told commissioners on May 20 that the county’s average daily jail population has declined from pre-2019 levels, but booked individuals present with higher medical and behavioral-health acuity — a change that has increased demands on jail health services, reentry staff and prosecutors.

\"As the sheriff, I have no control of the population. I don't decide who gets [arrested]. I don't decide how long they stay,\" the Sheriff said in a panel discussion that examined a multi-agency response to changing jail trends. Panelists said multiple factors — court investments, expanded diversion and specialty courts, changes in crime patterns and broader regional trends — together explain the falling population.

Panelists presented county data showing the annual average daily population declined from the high 130s before 2019 to roughly 100 at the time of the briefing. Speakers cautioned, however, that a lower headcount has not reduced workload: felony and complex cases remain time-consuming, investigators and prosecutors said, and inmate bed-days can be driven by a small number of long-held serious cases.

Jeanie Anderson of the county attorney’s office said the office is still handling major, time‑intensive prosecutions: \"Right now we've got 4 murder cases going on. Jury selection starts on one of them on Tuesday after Memorial Day,\" she said, describing the staffing strain such cases require.

Detectives said the character of property and fraud crime has shifted toward online scams and cryptocurrency-facilitated fraud, rather than the repeated, local burglaries historically seen in summer months. Detective Punchgaard described recent cryptocurrency kiosk scams and praised a new Minnesota law that limits the amount that can be loaded at such kiosks and allows victim recovery from kiosk operators in some cases. \"So far I have investigated 3 of those with 100% clearance,\" Punchgaard said, describing successful recoveries tied to the statute.

Panelists highlighted a rise in inmate healthcare use and complexity. Laura Perkins, nursing supervisor, and jail medical staff explained that Scott County changed its intake standard to provide a health assessment within 72 hours of booking (previously the standard was 14 days), which increased early nurse contact and led to more referrals and ER visits. The panel said the county now documents more emergency-room transports and has expanded onsite clinical coverage, including twice-weekly physician visits, to meet needs.

Officials described efforts to reduce recidivism and smooth reentry. A reentry coordinator and a jail-based probation officer (position piloted in January 2024) coordinate treatment placements and attempts to avoid rapid re‑arrest on out-of-county holds. The county runs an annual resource fair that brings about two dozen community providers into the jail to allow in-custody residents to apply for benefits, access treatment and connect to job and housing resources.

Staff also raised operational and regulatory risks. County leaders told commissioners that Minnesota’s jail rules (identified in the presentation as the rule set from 02/2011) are being rewritten with an expected release in January 2026, and panelists said the revisions appear likely to impose new constraints and staffing requirements that will increase operating costs. Commissioners and staff discussed boarding (housing other counties’ inmates), unit-opening decisions tied to classification and staffing, and the potential savings and trade-offs of regionalization.

Sheriff’s office and jail administrators said the county can accept boarding requests but that many neighboring jails were recently expanded and demand for boarding is currently limited; they also noted that boarding medically or behaviorally complex inmates is challenging for accepting counties.

Commissioners and panelists discussed programming in the jail. Officials said programming capacity has improved after staffing stabilized and that the jail tracks program attendance. New offerings include cognitive and coping-skills classes, parenting programs and collaborations with community mental-health and treatment providers. Officials said the programming and reentry work aim to reduce future bookings, but that a clear causal link between programming and countywide crime trends is difficult to produce from available data.

Why this matters: the changes affect staffing, operating budgets and county decisions about boarding and regional cooperation. Panelists urged continued investments in court efficiency, reentry coordination, jail medical staffing and diversion programs while warning that forthcoming state rule changes and federal/state budget actions could shift costs onto counties.

Panelists committed to continuing cross-jurisdiction collaboration, data-sharing, and targeted prevention and reentry efforts. The county also is monitoring online scam trends and advising residents on prevention.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Scott County Board of Commissioners May 20 2025","oneSentenceSummary","A Scott Delivers panel on May 20 reported that average daily jail population in Scott County has fallen from pre‑2019 highs but that booked people increasingly have complex mental-health and medical needs, raising healthcare, staffing and cost questions for the county jail.","taxTitle","Scott County , Minnesota","taxId",52800,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6230770,"Scott County health board spotlights home visiting gains, naloxone access and WIC expansion",2739,41085,2780255,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3441999-7d4b9af805fa058065e28e02c1077487&start=41&end=2780","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3441999-7d4b9af805fa058065e28e02c1077487/thumbnail_41085.jpg","/articles/6230770/Scott-County/Minnesota/Scott-County-health-board-spotlights-home-visiting-gains-naloxone-access-and-WIC-expansion","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6230770-d3728505638ca705a303610875a91031/orig.mp4?Expires=1770430976&Signature=DG307FGTizdyPOLfmUD-14Y6DfLZK6EBY9zJs6ZnakZjvdy3vjPN312zXqvQ7I6cpj~cKbPcS5xZWWvod9YLoZguYlYu4bzqm54SzWdPnxGsheCVMJgAgJlKWwaO8A2b00qCUmvtJEgNCg1-f7XrZTSbS-vl31Wj6G4XtsA3-TcEOszYTeicyS~MGSc3tVPqiTZJm2Vnkd-czeSGa1mwBse6X9XBscqMt-iv32sfd~q1ymZZ7Tq4JbMd08ImNPKXJi4wAKqN~K5qzw-AHxdrMmAd3LH56m7jifJ~06R8EeC4hTS5US~sut0sKZ5EOgtqtS9rOp5-UVQYq0aPiTLpvA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Scott County Community Health staff told the county board on May 20 that family home visiting, naloxone access and WIC services expanded in 2024 even as funding pressures and infectious-disease threats persisted.

Lisa, Community Health Services Administrator, opened the report, saying the board meets twice annually and outlining program highlights from the department’s recent report to the community. \"We are required, mandated, thank you very much, to meet as a community health board twice per year,\" Lisa said as she summarized program trends and upcoming work.

The county completed 2,233 family home visits in 2024, Lisa reported, with program mix shifting as Scott County added a Parents as Teachers option in 2022. Last year, 36% of visits were Parents as Teachers, 41% were the MESH maternal early sustained home visiting model and 23% were traditional short-term home visits. Staff-run evaluations and parent surveys show high satisfaction: \"100 percent of parents reported that they feel that they are better able to cope with life and understand their baby's child development,\" Lisa said. She added that 85% of participating families reported reading or telling stories to their children daily and that 80% of children in the programs were screened for developmental concerns on time.

Jody Lieris, who presented the WIC update, said the county continues to expand WIC beyond the government center. WIC services now operate at the Family Resource Center in Shakopee and at the Savage Library, and staff are preparing to add services at the Jordan Library. Lieris said WIC has referred 133 families to early childhood screening and that the program distributed about $1.3 million in food benefits in the year reviewed. She described the program’s hemoglobin screening protocol and said nutritional counseling and referrals follow any flagged low results.

On substance-use prevention, Lisa described the county’s drug-disposal and naloxone work. Scott County began serving as a naloxone access point in 2023 and added a 24-hour naloxone box in 2024 stocked with naloxone, fentanyl test strips and at-home drug-deactivation (Deterra) bags. Lisa noted the county tracks drug take-back weights and distributed nearly 2,000 Deterra-style kits in 2023 and about 1,067 in 2024. She also said overdose deaths are tracked from coroner data: the county recorded 20 overdose deaths in 2023 and nine deaths in January–August 2024, with the 2024 total not yet final.

Health staff pointed to a Community Readiness to Change score that has risen over a decade, from about 1.5 (denial/resistance) a decade ago to 4.6 in the most recent survey — a level staff describe as \"initiating change.\" Lisa cautioned, however, that recent legalization of marijuana at the state level and possible future policy changes could affect youth substance use and program progress.

Dr. Wilcox, Scott County Medical Director, briefed commissioners on infectious-disease trends and vaccination priorities. He said routine childhood vaccination coverage in the county remains well below prevention targets and emphasized measles risk: national and state outbreaks in 2024–2025 include multiple clusters, and, Dr. Wilcox noted, CDC figures show most recent U.S. measles cases occurred in unvaccinated people. \"We're well below that [96 percent vaccination level] for all of the vaccines that we are listing here,\" Dr. Wilcox said, urging continued outreach and clinic efforts to catch children up on recommended vaccines.

Lisa described two near-term department priorities: finishing the county’s five-year community health assessment and launching a public-facing Power BI dashboard to display assessment data; and expanding WIC and vaccination outreach in 2025. She also reported a funding change: federal cuts reduced the county’s planned AmeriCorps capacity; the department had planned to receive four full-time AmeriCorps members in July but will now pursue an alternate Recovery Corps placement that could provide one full-time member.

Commissioners asked for clarifying data and staff agreed to provide follow-ups. Commissioner Brecke asked whether overdose counts represent Scott County residents; Lisa said the supplied figures reflect incidents that occurred within Scott County, not residents only, and offered to email resident-versus-incident breakdowns on request.

Why this matters: the programs discussed address early childhood development, substance-use prevention, vaccine-preventable disease risk and food security. Staff framed the work as a mix of direct services, community partnerships and data-driven outreach intended to reduce preventable illness and improve access to care.

Looking ahead, staff said the community health assessment will be finalized and used to shape a county community health improvement plan, and the dashboard will make assessment findings publicly available once IT completes deployment. Lisa and other staff also said they will continue naloxone distribution and drug-disposal upgrades and will press schools and community partners to improve childhood vaccination rates.

Speakers quoted and cited in this article are listed in the speakers section below; program facts and direct figures reflect the presentations and discussion during the Scott County Community Health Board report at the May 20 meeting.","At a May 20 community health board meeting, county health staff reported increased family home visits, expanded naloxone distribution and WIC service growth while warning of federal AmeriCorps cuts and urging vaccination catch-up for children.","actionData","errors"]

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Scott County officials: jail population down but cases and health needs are more complex

Scott County health board spotlights home visiting gains, naloxone access and WIC expansion