Despite the controversy over conditions at Indian Country jails,
an appropriations bill approved by the House last month provides
scant funds for the troubled facilities.
Instead, more money directed to investigating tribal casinos.
Although federal officials say they only have 31 open cases of casino crime,
the bill would provide $5.5 million and 53 positions for the
FBI's Indian Country unit.
The shift in priorities is found in the Commerce, Justice
and State (CJS) bill. Approved by a 397-18 vote
on July 8, it provides $2 million for tribal jails, a slight
increase over the $1.96 million approved the year before.
The focus on casino crime is largely the work of Rep. Frank Wolf
(R-Virginia), the chairman of the subcommittee that handles
the CJS bill. An outspoken opponent of all forms of gambling, he has
targeted crime at casinos for the past couple of years -- to
the objection of organizations like the National Indian Gaming
Association and the National Congress of American Indians.
Lobbying efforts by those two organizations have stripped
earlier versions of the bill of provisions deemed anti-Indian.
In 2003, tribes stopped Wolf's proposed study
on Indian gaming and, in 2002, they killed another study
on Native Americans in general. Other provisions were removed when the
Senate took up its version of the bill.
The poor conditions of Bureau of Indian Affairs jails have been
the focus of intense scrutiny in recent months. A preliminary Department
of Interior investigation has found unreported cases of deaths, suicides and escapes.
The Department of Justice has reported consistently
for four years that the jails are operating far above capacity.
In contrast, crime at casinos has not exploded, according to statistics,
even as the industry has grown to $16.2 billion in annual revenues.
Federal officials who are part of the Indian Gaming Working Group say
most of the violations involve thefts of cash by employees, not organized crime or other
large-scale operations.
"About half the cases we look at deal with theft of proceeds," said
Ernie Weyand, of the FBI's Indian Country unit,
at a press briefing for the IGWG last month.
Thomas Heffelfinger, the U.S. Attorney for the state of Minnesota,
said the problem is a significant one. In the non-Indian gaming
industry, he said about 6 percent of net gaming revenues are lost to theft,
embezzlement and fraud.
Nevertheless, he said that tribes are overly-protective
of their facilities in ways that non-Indian gaming is not.
"The very nature of the Indian gaming industry
gives its one protection against infiltration of organized crime
that may not exist in other industries," he said. "The tribal gaming operations
themselves are tribally owned and the tribes that operate them have
a very strong ... proprietary interest in their operations."
The House bill says the $5.5 million will be used to investigate
all Indian Country crime but the report language accompanying the bill indicates
that most of the concern is over casinos.
It directs the Department of Justice "to provide quarterly reports
describing Department resources dedicated to Indian Country and
to combating illegal activity at Native American Casinos."
"This
report shall include: the number of agents assigned to Indian
Country; man-hours worked in Indian Country; the amount and
types of training provided; the number of matters initiated;
the number of cases; the number of subjects/defendants; the
number of convictions; the amount of restitution ordered;
and the actions of the Indian Gaming Working Group, including
coordination with the National Indian Gaming Commission,"
the report states.
The Senate has not yet taken up its version of the CJS bill and
has been slow to consider any appropriations due to a dispute
over how they will be handled.
The budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which comes
from the Interior Appropriations bill, seeks $7.8 million to
staff eight jails that are being finished next year. The money was
the first time the Bush administration requested funds for this item.
Separately, assistant secretary Dave Anderson has dedicated
$6.4 million to improving conditions at the jails.
Commerce, Justice and State Appropriations Bill:
House Report |
H.R.4754
Indian Country Jail Reports:
Year
2002 | Year
2001 | Year
2000 | Years
1998-1999
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