Jill Schramm/MDN The Ward County Jail, shown Wednesday, is considered full due to distancing required with COVID-19.

The Ward County Jail’s inmate count is as high as it’s ever been, according to jail administrators.

As of Wednesday, the jail was housing 164 inmates. Capacity is 286 in the facility that was expanded at the end of 2017, but because of separation guidelines being implemented to avoid any potential spread of COVID-19, jail administrators consider the facility to already be full.

“With 164, we are bursting at the seams,” Jail Commander Paul Olthoff said.

During a preliminary 2021 budget meeting Wednesday, Olthoff and Sheriff Bob Roed told the Ward County Commission that COVID-19 is behind some of the inmate increase. The number of inmates being held for the federal government and the state prison both are up.

The county is contracted to take up to 24 federal prisoners but due to COVID-19, the federal government has asked Ward County to take more than that number at one time. On Wednesday, there were 34 federal prisoners housed, and that number has been as high as 41. The county receives federal reimbursement for these inmates.

At one time, the jail also had as many as 29 inmates awaiting transfer to the State Penitentiary, with the state declining to accept them and providing no reimbursement.

“In the bigger counties, it was affecting us financially,” Roed said.

The North Dakota Sheriff’s Association appealed to the governor, which resulted in reimbursement now being paid.

Roed explained the State Penitentiary requires inmates scheduled for transfer to Bismarck be held in separation from other inmates for 10 days and be tested for COVID-19.

Olthoff said the jail was down to only eight inmates awaiting transfer as of Wednesday. The prison had recently picked up seven to transfer to Bismarck. Those seven had tied up an entire cell block in keeping with COVID-19 separation requirements, he said.

The jail has experienced increased costs in association with COVID-19, although it also has been able to obtain some outside funding to assist, Roed said. The county received $58,008 in federal funds through the COVID-19 Emergency Supplemental Funding Program to purchase personal protective equipment. That money is being shared by the sheriff’s office, jail and smaller community police departments in the county.