North Dakota's top prison administrator wants counties to share in state penitentiary costs.
The proposal by Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Director LeAnn Bertsch is being met with stiff opposition from local officials, law enforcement, judges and prosecutors.
Bertsch wants the legislature to set a county-by-county allocation at state prison facilities using a formula based on the population of each county. Once a county exceeds the allocation, it would have to help pay prison costs.
Bertsch says some judges are sentencing people to prison when they should just be sentenced to time in county jails. She says it's being done to save money and jail space.
Judges and prosecutors say there is no evidence of that happening.