RUGBY, N.D. -- A Rugby jail and treatment center is now being run by Pierce County under a new name, in a change officials hope will bring financial stability.
Administrator Elaine Little says the Rugby Area Job Development Authority bought the North Central Correctional and Rehabilitation Center from the federal government for a little over $2 million, based its appraised value, and then leased the facility to the county.
Little says the monthly loan payments went from about $40,000 to about $13,000.
She says the center now needs about 80 inmates to cash flow -- which is about the number it currently has. The center had been struggling because it had fewer inmates than expected.
The center's name has been changed to the Heart of America Correctional and Treatment Center. It has about 30 full-time employees.
