Construction Starts for Navajo Justice Complex

CROWNPOINT, N.M. — The Navajo Nation has broken ground on a judicial and public safety complex located just north of Crownpoint in New Mexico.

The $38.7 million facility — to be constructed in part with funds from a loan — will house the district court, corrections, law enforcement, probation, peace making program, prosecutors and public defenders. The Bureau of Indian Affairs approved $21 million for the facility and an additional $2.5 million for staff and judges’ housing.

The building is one of two under construction on the 27,000-square-mile reservation. A larger public safety complex is in the works in Tuba City, Ariz. Together, the two buildings are expected to ease cramped jail space.