CROW AGENCY - Crow Chairman Carl Venne says the tribe looked into acquiring or arranging a federal takeover of an empty $27 million jail in Hardin, but is no longer interested after the city rebuffed the proposal.

Venne says the tribe was trying to find a use for the 464-bed facility and pitched the idea to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to gauge the agency's interest. But he says the effort is now over. Hardin's city attorney sent the tribe a letter last week saying the city would fight to keep control of the facility.

The maneuvering over the jail's future comes amid mounting financial pressures spurred by its failure to bring in money. The confrontation over the tribe's involvement underscores the dwindling prospects for any relief. Vacant since it was completed last year, the privately operated jail defaulted on its bond earlier this month because it is not generating revenue.

State and local governments have say they have no use for additional jail space. And efforts to bring in out-of-state inmates remain stalled after an attorney general's opinion last year said that would be illegal.