Northland corrections center opens new meat retail store

SAGINAW, MN -- A decade in the making, a Northland corrections center has opened its first meat retail store and is now ready to sell beef, sausage, poultry, and more to the community.

This new development was made possible after the Northeast Regional Corrections Center, or NERCC, opened its new meat processing facility on its property in Saginaw in September.

According to its website, NERCC is a minimum/medium security facility where adult men with a criminal history learn skills that will be useful to them upon their eventual release.

It’s part of the Arrowhead Regional Corrections system and has operated since the 1930s as a “work farm that works.”

“This model has a history of success, increasing an individuals odds of finding employment upon release and reducing recidivism rates,” Matt Wrazidlo, a meat processor leading the effort, wrote.

Along with meat processing, men housed at NERCC can also learn farming, animal care, mechanics skills and more.

At the meat retail store, NERCC residents cut and prepare the meat on site.

The new meat processing retail store is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Thursday at NERCC, which is located at 6102 Abrahamson Road in Saginaw.

Starting May 1, the store’s hours will expand to Monday-Saturday.

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