VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Since December 20, the Barnes County jail is only able to keep inmates for a maximum of four days, then, they have to be transferred to other facilities.

Barnes County Sheriff Randy McClaflin told us why the state believes the jail in Valley City is unsafe.

He said there’s been a lot of turn over with the jail staff being they don’t know where their future employment stands down the road.

In 2018, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told Barnes County officials to have a plan in place to renovate or build a new jail.

The jail committee members voted to build a new jail but the committee has not been able to decide which architectural firm to hire or where the new jail should be built. At the last meeting on December 6 of 2018 several members expressed an interest to build a new facility near the courthouse.