VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Earlier this year, Barnes County asked the North Dakota Department of Corrections to have the jail re-classified so the county could house inmates for 90 days. On May 8th the county received word that the state granted their request.

There are a couple of stipulations under the order they included extending the maximum incarceration time from four days to 90 days.

Another stipulation is the jail can only have a maximum of 10 inmates at one time under the new reclassification.

Barnes County Sheriff Randy McClaflin said the reason the state relaxed their previous classification was due to the fact that the county is pursuing a plan to build a new jail to meet modern standard requirements.

McClaflin said if the county doesn’t build a new jail to replace the old one which no longer meets state requirements, the state will shut down the current 100 plus year old jail.