"All the Gitmo and Michael Hilton stuff was kind of a black eye in the way those things turned out, but it's all good now," Matovich said.

The BIA is paying Emerald about $70 per inmate per day, said agency spokeswoman Nedra Darling. The drug and alcohol treatment provided by the company is unavailable in BIA-managed jails, Darling said, and inmates are sent to Hardin only with the agreement of tribal leadership.

However, Blackfeet Nation Chairman Harry Barnes said the BIA gave tribal officials only three days' notice before relocating inmates from an outdated jail on his northwestern Montana reservation to Hardin, 380 miles away.

"They should have consulted us beforehand," Barnes said. "They showed up on a Friday and said they were going to tear the jail down Monday. ...We were only in a position to listen, but we had some concerns with people going all the way to Hardin."

Barnes said that could present a hardship for family members who want to visit inmates but can't afford to make the journey. Another source of inmates, the Spirit Lake Tribe of central North Dakota, is located more than 550 miles from Hardin in central North Dakota, an eight-hour trip by car.

Darling did not immediately respond to questions about the BIA's discussions with the Blackfeet about the jail.