Corrections Center Opens New Meat Processing Facility

SAGINAW, Minn. — On Friday, the Northeast Regional Corrections Center, or NERCC, held a ribbon cutting ceremony for its brand new meat processing facility, which will serve as trade work for inmates.

NERCC is Minnesota’s only correctional work farm.

Meaning those onsite are required to perform daily work tasks.

Corrections leaders say the intent is to increase job opportunities and help keep the men from returning to prison.

The original meat cutting facility was built in 1967, and with its old age, it grew to be in poor condition.

Corrections leaders began game planning for a new place, and after seven years, a new meat facility has officially taken its place.

“It just really gives these men an opportunity to learn a trade that can service them when they leave NERCC. We’ve had a number of men that have worked in this meat processing facility and obtained certificates to go on for further education and are currently employed at places like Super One and some other local farms,” said ARC Executive Director, Wally Kostich.

That was the case for Tristan Snyder, former NERCC resident, now Apprentice Meat Cutter at Super One.

He spent four months at the corrections center.

His work started in the kitchen, then he moved to meat processing and worked for Meat Processing Instructor, Matt Wrazidlo, whose family owns Old World Meats in Duluth.

“Matt doesn’t put up with people that are just going through the motions. He needs people that work because there is work to be done. So really, everybody that we had in here was pretty happy to be here and if they weren’t, then they weren’t here,” said Snyder.

Snyder went on to say that he owes some of his current success to NERCC — and to Wrazidlo.

“I wasn’t really ready to work when I got to NERCC initially. I worked in the kitchen and it was alright, but a big part of my success and sobriety has been having a job and Matt really prepared me for having a job and being somewhere 8 hours a day.”

The meat industry is in high demand, there’s not enough meat processors.

The corrections meat facility serves as a resource for local farmers and hunters, who can bring their meat in for processing,

“I remember as a young child my grandfather was a farmer up on the iron range. I think those type of things are prevalent. He owned his own store, butchered his own animals on the farm, and sold them. You don’t see a whole lot of that anymore, but it’s really coming back these days and there’s a need for that type of service. It’s a service that we can provide here at NERCC to the local farmers,” said Kostich.

The new facility has been certified by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and is currently awaiting certification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Only a select group of smaller animals are able to be processed at this time until U.S. approval goes through.

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