Sheriff John Lawson

Served from 1991 to 1998

Hard Cell
Crumbling Jail Holds Key To Downtown Revitalization Efforts
December 08, 1996|By Caryn Shinske, Marion Chronicle-Tribune.

MARION, Ind. — It once stood as a majestic structure that greeted residents and visitors. Its turrets and castle-like architecture remain, but local officials would hardly liken it to the
seemingly royal presence it once commanded.The rusted cell bars and broken chunks of brick of the old Grant County Jail are now considered blight in a city fighting to revitalize its downtown and attract as much business to the community as possible.

"It's an eyesore," Alicia Kocher, community development director for the city, recently said of the building that greets visitors traveling into Marion from the east Fifty years ago, the attached sheriff's residence was the scene of society parties remembered well by Richard Treber of Marion. He spent much of his childhood there while his father, Vaughn, served three two-year terms as sheriff in the 1930s and 1940s. "The old residence had a lot of beautiful wood in there, pocket doors that would slide, and it was really kind of a showplace," Treber remembered.
The old jail also had its share of problems. Overcrowding was common. The jail had four cellblocks and room for 44 inmates.

Capacity usually exceeded that on weekends, according to Capt. Andrew Benedict, who worked as a jail deputy, patrol deputy and dayshift lieutenant at the building. Still, Benedict said the old building had a warm feeling to it. "It was kind of a homey atmosphere when you first walked in there," Benedict said. But it wasn't necessarily homelike for inmates who lived there while serving sentences. "Evidently, they didn't like it too much because they were always trying to break out of there," said Deputy Eddie Riggs, whose father, Bill Riggs, was sheriff from 1978-82. "It was
nothing to stop two or three jailbreaks a month." Similar instances are unlikely at the current jail, which houses 275 inmates and has numerous security cameras. Sheriff John Lawson prefers the modern security technology. "It's amazing," he said. "I didn't think in 1971 working in the old jail I would be sheriff in 1991. It was an experience. It was a masterpiece in the old days. Everything was ahead of its time when I hired in."

Despite the current condition of the jail and attached sheriff's residence, one man continues to live there. The residence has partially exposed roof beams and heavy water stains along
the walls, but owner Rex Fansler keeps the interior neat and sparsely furnished. Fansler wants to move from the place he's called home for six years, but has been unsuccessful in negotiating with the city to buy it. Fansler owes approximately $20,000 in back taxes and says he can't and won't pay . He calls himself bullheaded about the matter. The Redevelopment Commission attempted to buy the building but can't, according to City Attorney Randy Johnson, because there is a lien on it from overdue taxes. The building also has been through two tax sales.

Financial problems with the jail are not new. The U.S. government planned to build the structure as a federal detention center to serve the area between Indianapolis and Fort
Wayne, but eventually turned their plans over to the county commissioners, who had the jail built in 1904 for $107,848. The sheriff's residence was added for an additional $95,000.
Plenty more money would be spent through the years to repair the old jail. The plumbing and electrical systems needed overhauling about 20 years ago, and remodeling costs in 1975
were estimated at $800,000. A state corrections report that year labeled the jail atrocious and deplorable. It finally closed in 1981.