Minnehaha County

Minnehaha County is a member of the third cohort of jurisdictions to participate in the Safety and Justice Challenge Network, the centerpiece of the Foundation’s strategy to address overincarceration by reducing jail misuse and overuse and disparities in jail usage. This award enables Minnehaha County to build on and secure progress achieved during previous rounds of implementation funding, both in reducing jail populations and increasing fairness, while sustaining local system reform momentum.

Minnehaha County was one of twenty competitively selected jurisdictions chosen in 2017 to join an expanded Safety and Justice Challenge Network as Innovation sites, receiving small project grants and technical assistance in support of targeted efforts to safely reduce jail misuse and overuse. In 2018, on the basis of its Innovation site performance, Minnehaha County was awarded a deeper implementation investment enabling it to undertake more ambitious reforms aimed at driving down local incarceration and disparities in jail usage. This award enables Minnehaha County to continue and deepen these comprehensive reform efforts, with the aim of achieving further reductions in local incarceration, targeting racial and ethnic disparities, advancing racial equity, strengthening community engagement, and contributing momentum toward criminal justice systems reform nationally.

Since 2017, Minnehaha County has participated in the Safety and Justice Challenge as an Innovation site, one of 20 competitively selected jurisdictions receiving small project grants and technical assistance from the Urban Institute in support of targeted efforts to safely reduce jail misuse and overuse. On the basis of project performance and with the help of the Urban Institute, a select group of these sites has been identified as ready for deeper implementation investment. This award enables Minnehaha County to undertake more ambitious reforms aimed at driving down local incarceration and racial and ethnic disparities in jail usage, as an implementation site in the Safety and Justice Challenge Network.