EAGLE RIVER – The historic seven-bed Keweenaw County Jail will close by the end of the month, leaving the county with a just a 72-hour lockup facility in the same space, and an estimated $70,000-$100,000 in annual savings.

The Keweenaw County Board voted for the change Wednesday after Sheriff Ron Lahti said arrangements are in place to send long-term inmates to the Houghton County Jail. The county will lay off two corrections officers and a cook as part of the closure, a total of 2.5 positions.

The layoffs made the change difficult, said Commissioner Ray Chase, but they’re also the primary cost savings in the closure.

“I really don’t like to do it, but the numbers show it has to be done,” said Commissioner Randy Eckloff.

“We hate to do it. It’s part of Keweenaw County’s history,” said Chase, “but for the benefit of the county we had to.”

Lahti said the change has become necessary because shrinking inmate numbers make it less economically feasible to operate the jail. He remembers when the jail used to house an average of around five inmates daily. That number that has shrunk to around two per day, with the same number of corrections officers still required to supervise them.

Lahti said the biggest reason for the drop in inmate numbers has been a shift towards drug courts and treatment for substance-abuse related crimes, instead of long jail sentences.

“It’s probably a good thing, but it’s reduced the numbers,” he said.

Lahti said the jail has been open since 1886. The closing is partly a sign of the times, he said, necessitated by changing state rules on prisoner supervision, such as the requirement for 24-hour supervision, even when just one or two prisoners are being held.

The change is hard for him to watch, he admitted, having raised five children in the sheriff’s residence that shares the building with the jail and Sheriff’s Office, and with his wife having served as jail matron and cook. He’ll be moving out around the end of the year regardless, though, when he retires from his position.

Lahti said part of the jail will still be used as the county’s 72-hour lockup. As a lockup, he said, the facility will be able to hold inmates for up to three days after booking, with inmates moved elsewhere if they haven’t yet made bail, or after being sentenced.