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• Other critics of the amendment argued that it defeated the main intent of the bill.
• "This is a long ways from what I intended to bring," Olson said. "It's been stripped almost bare naked," she said, but urged the House to pass the amended bill anyway.
• Olson said if the bill had progressed to the Senate, that chamber might have restored the measure to her original proposal.
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US attorney from ND testifies on Indian report
DAVE KOLPACK, Associated Press
• FARGO, N.D. (AP) -- North Dakota's top federal prosecutor told state lawmakers Wednesday that Indian reservations in the state should include halfway houses for people who return home after serving prison sentences.
• During an appearance in front of the Senate Committee on Indiana Affairs, U.S. Attorney Timothy Purdon said federal law enforcement officials should figure out a way to bring post-release services to the reservations. About 95 percent of Native Americans in North Dakota who are convicted in federal court return to the reservations, where they often get in trouble again.
• "One of the challenges we have is that we don't have halfway house facilities where inmates can do their last six months of custody on the reservations," Purdon said. "They're doing these halfway house stints 100 miles from their home."
• Purdon told senators about Standing Rock Indian Reservation client he represented when he was a public defender. Seven years after the man was sentenced to prison, Purdon saw him Bismarck halfway house and he told the attorney he was doing well. He had a job and a sponsor for his Alcoholics Anonymous group.
• "When his six months were up at the halfway house, he got in the car and went back to Standing Rock," Purdon said. "Three months later I got a call that said his probation is being revoked and he's being sent back to federal prison. I asked him what happened and he said, 'I got back to Standing Rock: no AA group, no sponsor.'"
• Purdon said that while the Department of Justice can't do much about building those facilities, re-entry is high on Attorney General Eric Holder's agenda.
• "In North Dakota, I'm working closely with the court and probation office to see how we can work together to provide some sort of support for those folks coming back," Purdon said.
• Purdon was one of several officials asked to testify Wednesday on a new report entitled "A Roadmap For Making Native America Safer." The study shows that Native youth experience violent crime at rates up to 10 times the national average.
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