Chronicle Tribune Magazine 11-23-1980
The Security Center
The three-story security center can accommodate 108 people, and has a separate book in area, holding room and drunk tank with four showers. The nucleus of the security center is the radio room.
By Willie Wofford
The Grant County Jail has features that make its purpose obvious, but Sheriff William Riggs jokes that he may have to negotiate to keep some people from being booked-in.
Once a person is locked up, however, he probably will stay there until he is properly released.
And to match the jail's first-class design; the facility was given a sophisticated name The Grant County Security Center."
The three-story security center can accommodate 108 people, and has a separate book-in area, holding room and drunk tank with four showers. 1
The nucleus of the security center is the radio room on the first floor.
The dispatcher has control of a public address system that can pipe stereo music throughout the building or let him give commands in a particular cellblock, Riggs says.
The console the dispatcher operates has a loud speaker for each floor. It consists of several multi colored buttons that indicate when a cell block door is open, closed, or moving in either direction.
The console allows the dispatcher to keep track of a deputy who is investigating a cage; know what kind of case he is investigating and how long he works it.
Riggs says IBM cards can be used in the console to keep monthly records of deputies' activities...
The radio room also has a computer that ties into the National Crime Information Center in Washington D.C., and eight television monitors that scan different sections of the building: Each monitor can scan six areas of the building, Riggs says.
A conference room with kitchen facilities, nine offices for the staff, and four restrooms are on the north side of the first floor. There is also a line-up room with a two-way mirror. As long as a suspect is shorter than 7-foot-6-inches, he can be measured during a lineup
And in case you thought that was the end of the decor on the first floor, there it has a laboratory for crime analysis and photography.
“We also have a court room for arraignments if the judges want to use it," "Riggs says.
The basement has locker rooms for men and women. employees, an empty gymnasium for staff use, and a small outdoor area that Inmates will use for
recreation. The area consist of cement walls that are at least 10 feet high, and a steel cover that lets sunlight, and the weather, sneak through,
The basement also has a 25-yard pistol range. "This is supposed to be the best in the state," Riggs says, as his eyes dance with pride.
The basement also has a room where evidence will be stored, a laundry room; and more: "I'll show you the most exclusive kitchen in the state of-Indiana Riggs. says, before he pushes the door open and flaunts his kitchen.
"This kitchen probably costs as much as the jail,' - Riggs says, explaining that it has a sanitizer, carts to store hot or cold food, soup pot and steamers.
It even has a walk-in freezer and walk-in cooler. "It will cost me $10,000 to fill it up,” Riggs jokes about the freezers.
"These ovens are miracle ovens. They can do anything; Riggs says, pointing at the units:""
The second and third floors of the security center are designed almost alike. Each floor has a visiting room: with a glass that separates inmates as they sit and talk to visitors, an office where a deputy can monitor the activity on the floor, and a conference room where lawyers can talk to their clients.
There are four cellblocks on the second floor and four, on the third floor. Each cellblock has a stainless-steel shower and color television set enclosed in a glass* case. Each cell, which holds two inmates, has two tables, a bookshelf and place to hang clothes.
A walk-around is provided so the jailers can check, the inmates, Riggs says as he demonstrates how it will. be done, and points out the different color patterns that ∙include, gold, green, orange and blue,
Women and juveniles will be lodged on the third floor, Riggs says, as he heads for the elevator to end the tour.
“So, it's quite à deal. It's a big responsibility,” Riggs says. But he still hasn't figured out what kind of strategy he will use to keep people out who might want to make the posh security center a temporary home. · “It's going to be a job, I'll tell you that," Riggs Says
Marion Chronicle Tribune 1-18-1990
Population in jail keeps growing
By Sherrie Smith
The day the Grant County Commissioners opened construction bids for expansion of the Grant County Jail Wednesday, the jail’s population grew by three inmates.
There were 173 inmates at the jail at noon. By 4 ‘.m. the jail had 176 inmates. Of those, nine awaited transfer to Department of Correction prisons. The jails official capacity is 150.
The jail has been over capacity since July. Twice since November, the jail held a record 180 inmates.
Grant County Sheriff Ron W. Mowery said the jail expansion would help, But he said county and Indiana officials need to solve the problem of overcrowding.
“We need to look at alternative sentences for the non-violent offenders, and we need to build state prisons,” he said. “If we can implement those, we’ll be okay. If we fail to do any of that, we’ll be in trouble.”
The state has discussed plans for building a new $650 bed state facility, but mowery said with 601 inmats in Indiana’s county jails awaiting transfer to DOC prisons, that facility will be full the minute it opens.
Grant County is one of 16 counties in the state that were above capacity as of Jan. 9, according to a survey by the Indiana Sher’ff Association. Elkhart County has 333 Inmates packed into a jail that should hold 196 inmates. Fifteen counties have inmates housed at other county jails.
In March, Grant County officials voted to expand the jail by two floors and add an indoor-outdoor execersie facility.
The expansion will add 48 medium-security beds and 75 beds for community-based programs or minimum-security prisoners. The bids opened Wednesday were taken under aedvisement.
“We need to study the bids further, but I’m pleased that we’re within the totals we set,” said Dick D. Ervin, president of Toth-Ervin, Indianapolis, project manager over the expansion.
Mowery said bids for electrical and plumbing and heating work varied greatly.
“I’m puzzled about the different, but we’ll know more after they’re studied,” Mowery said. “It’s nice that we’re going forward. It’s something we’ve needed for a long time.”
The commissioners will award the contracts at 10 a.m. Monday.
Five bids were received from General contractors:
- MacDougall and Pierce, Carmel, $3,236,961
- Hagerman Construction Corporation, Fort Wayne, $2,969,000
- James S. Jackson Company, Bluffton, $2,984,730
- Geupal DeMars, Indianapolis, $2,897,000
- JungClause and Campbell, Indianapolis, $2,844,400
The five bids for plumbing and heating work:
- Shambaugh and Sons, Fort Wayne, $712,500
- Peerless Plumbing and Heating, Kokomo, $919,919
- Quality Plumbing and Heating, Bunker Hill, $789,000
- Greiner Brothers, Indianapolis, $868,000
- Industrial Piping and Engineering Cooperation, Fort Wayne, $684,100
The bids for electrical work:
- Huston Electric, Kokomo, $741,000
- Moorehead Electric, Marion $1,178,242
If the county accepted the low bids, the expansion would carry a front-end cost of $4,269,000
Earlier this month the county approved up to a $4.9 million bond issue to pay for the project. The bond issue may be lowered. Officials said the bond could be issue by March, and construction could begin after that. Construction will take an estimated 12 to 14 months.
Marion Chronicle Tribune 9-5-1981
Council to hear 'budget requests The Grant County Council will consider $4.4 million in requests Tuesday in the first of two sessions on the 1982 budget. The council will meet at 7 p.m. in the county office building. 401 S. Adams St., Marion. The council also is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the office building. Before the county begins any cutting, the budget requests must be read aloud, said County Auditor Ray Hick-am. According to the state's frozen tax package, the county will have $3.5 million to spend next year. Among the budget requests are $552,084.50 in salaries for the sheriff’s department. That is the largest salary budget for 1982. Part of the increase is due to additional personnel needed to operate the new county jail.
Marion Chronicle 10-8-1989
Full house has inmates sleeping on floor
By Sherie Smith Chronicle-Tribune
Inmates were sleeping on the floor at the Grant County Jail last week because of overcrowding.
"The bottom line is that it's a critical situation," Sheriff Ron Mowery said. "On Monday, we had 12 inmates sleeping on the floor. We were able to get some additional sleeping bunks."
On Monday, there were 178 inmates at the jail, the highest since the jail opened Feb. 1, 1981. The jail capacity is 150 inmates.
On Friday, the inmate population was 169. Three inmates were awaiting-transfer to the Indiana Department of Correction.
In August, additional bunk beds were placed in the cellblocks to help with the problem. Mowery said on Monday, the sheriff's department was given 18 beds from the National Guard Armory.
The temporary holding facilities at the jail also can be turned into bed space for another 20 inmates if needed.
Prison overcrowding led DOC officials to impose a one-week moratorium on accepting inmates from county jails. The moratorium ended July 17, but now the prison system will take new inmates only as space becomes available.
But Mowery said even if the state would take the three inmates awaiting transfer, the jail still would be 16 inmates over capacity.
"In terms of the DOC, I think they're working with us as quickly as possible," he said. "And I don't believe even if we could hip those to DOC, it would solve the problem here."
Because of the problems, since July 7, the state has been paying the county jails for housing the inmates the state can't take. The state pays $25 per day per inmate for those the jail still is holding after a five-day waiting period.
Under normal circumstances, after an inmate in sentenced on most felony cases, he is sent to a state prison within five days. The July 7 payment date is the day the moratorium began.
The state will take immediately any inmate who is a security risk or problem inmate at the local jails. Grant County transfers about 65 in- inmates a year to state prisons.
Mowery said as of Thursday, the state owed Grant County $7,700 for inmates the jail has held since July 7. Vaughn Overstreet, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Cor- rection, said the state owes $257,500 to 92 counties for 799 inmates they've held. He said the average wait for an inmate to be sent to DOC is almost 13 days.
"At this time the situation can't stabilize," Overstreet said. "The situation is tight, but at least now we have enough control over the flow of inmates into the state prisons to control the situation."
He said the state was meeting the population caps at the state prison, Michigan City; Indiana Reformatory, Pendleton; and the See Jail / Page A-8
Overstreet said Mowery's problem of overcrowding locally was a problem for county jails statewide.
"We're just seeing so much of an increase in prison population," he said. "I think the major single factor is felony drunk driving arrests followed by drugs, both possession and trafficking, and child and spouse abuse."
When the jail was built in 1981, it was built so that two floors could be added to it. County officials are looking at an expansion that would add 150 beds at a cost of $3,384,919.
But Mowery said the earliest construction could begin would be January and the expansion would not be finished until at least spring 1991.
He said the county should have heeded the signs in 1984 when DOC officials began stressing alternative sentences and community corrections programs.
"In 1985, we were full and the state was saying the prisons were getting full," he said. "I think a lot of people thought we were crying wolf. We needed to bite the bullet and start expansion then."
Mowery said officials statewide were reluctant to do anything at that time because of the cost.
"One thing in our favor is that the county is accepting the facts and doing something about it," he said. "For now we will have to continue to live with the situation."
Mowery said he would look at alternatives to help the situation. One suggestion by Grant Superior Court 1 Judge Gary Thompson would be to sentence nonviolent offenders to work details.
Mowery said the proposal would have a person report to the jail from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily for a work detail, but they would sleep at their residence.
"This would happen with nonviolent offenders," he said. "Those inmates who are a threat to society will remain in jail." Thompson was out of town Friday and I could not be reached for comment on his proposal.
Chronicle Tribune 1-23-1990
Jail Project may cost $6.5 million
By Sherie Smith
Chronicle Tribune
By the time they’re all bought and paid for, two new floors in the Grant County Jail could cost taxpayers more than $6.5 million.
The Grant County Commissioners Monday awarded contracts to three firms that had the lowest bids for the project, which will add 123 beds to the jail.
The jail has a capacity of 150 inmates and has been over capacity almost every day since August 1989.
The low bidders:
- General Contractor, Jungeclaus-Campbell, Indianapolis, $2,991,000
- Plumbing and heating, Industrial Piping and Engineering Corp., Fort Wayne, $684,100.
- Electrical, Huston Electric, Kokomo, $804,800.
The bids total $4,479,900. The project also includes $526,500 for fees and reimursables, which include architect and project manager fees and any state fees or building permits needed. There is also a $200,000 contingency fund for unplanned expenses.
“The contingency fund is like a small insurance policy,” said Grant County Auditor Jay K. Walters. “If we don’t need it, we won’t use it.”
Without the contingency fund, the total cost of the project is $5,006,400.
Walters said county officials have already approved a $4.9 million bond issue to pay for the project. He said expenses more than $4.9 million would come either from the county general fund or from interest the county would accumulate from the bond money.
A tax rate will repay the bond issue. The bonds will be repaid in six years. Interest on $4.9 million, using a 6 ½ percent projected interest rate, would be $1,493, 808, according to Umbaugh and Assoociates, Fort Wayne, a financial consultant to the project.
With interest, the project could cost more than $6.5 million.
Walters estimated that after the current reassessment is completed, the bond issue would cost taxpayers 22 or 23 cents per $100 assessed valuation.
The bond issue would appear first on 1991 taxes.
Grant County Commissioner Ray M. Hickam said he was happy with the conractors the county hired.
“We’re very well satisfied,” he said. “All the companies have lots of experience. All the contractors have worked with Toth-Ervin before.”
Toth-Ervin, Indianapolis, is the expansion’s project manager.
Marion Chronicle April 5, 1990
Work starts on jail expansion of
Construction Workers poured cement Wednesday into 24, pillars atop the Grant County Jail. The work marks the beginning of a $6.3 million project to expand the jail by two stories.
To add the two floors and exercise area onto the jail, the dispatcher radio transmitter located on the roof will have to be moved to a room in the fall, said Grant County Sher Capt. Andy Benedict, While the transmitter is being moved the Marion Police Department will dispatch sheriff’s department calls, he said.
Benedict said they anticipate the police department will be dispatching calls for calls for eight hours, but it may take up to three days hook up the transmitter. If additional dis patchers are needed at the police department during that time a sheriff's department dis patcher will assist the police department, he said Benedict said the radio transmitter will be moved either the end of this week or the beginning of next week.
Public access to the jail dring construction will be through the Grant County Complex doors on Adams Street.
The complex doors will be locked at 4pm but a telephone and a camera will be installed so people coming after hours to post bond for someone can call the radio room
The complex doors on the south side and the Third Street side will be locked at all times.
Marion Chronicle Tribune April 8, 1991
It’s new and nice, but it’s still a jail
By Sherie Smith
It’s nice, clean and spacious, but Grant County Sheriff John Lawson wants people to remember one thing.
“It’s still a jail. They’ll be locked up, have limited access,” he said.
The three-story addition to the Grant County Jail is almost completed. The clue to the seam between the old and new: The new has narrower windows.
Gone are the construction trucks and trailers but some odd jobs remain before inmates can begin moving in.
“A lot of final touches,” Lawson said. “Replacing a tile here and there, caulking some electronic wiring, (finishing) the security elevator.”
Lawson said the target date to move into the jail is May 1, but they may begin moving inmates to the fifth floor as early as April 15.
The county awarded bids on the project in January 1990, and construction began in April 1990.
Construction costs for the project were $4.9 million. The project will be financed through a bond issue. By the time interest is paid on the bond issue, the total cost will be $6.5 million, said Grant County Auditor Jay K. Walters.
The new floors will bring the jail’s capacity to 260 beds.
While the new space will help alleviate overcrowding, Lawson said there could again be more inmates than room.
By 1995, the jail’s inmate population could increase to between a minimum of 243 inmates and a maximum of 320, according to projections from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“It’s something we’ll all have to deal with,” Lawson said. “The state hopefully will have their corrections system in line. They would be able to accommodate more inmates.”
The new floors have state of the art electronic monitoring equipment.
“In 1981, when we moved into the existing jail, we felt like- compared to security at the old jail- that was state of the art,” Law said. “We’ve gone even further now.”
On the new inmate floors, everything is controlled through a computer panel in a small office. Buttons can lock one or all of the cells and control lights. A voice activated scream alarm allows a jailer or inmate in trouble to call for help, and the area is identified on the computer screen.
Seven cameras in the office scan the various areas, including visiting rooms and cell blocks.
The inmates for the most part, be separated by crime: pre-trial misdemeannors, sentenced misdemeanors, pre-trial felonies and sentenced felonies.
“We obviously don’t want someone charged with murder in the same cellblock as someone charged with shoplifting,” Lawson said.
Also in place now is a courtroom that will allow arraignments to be done at the jail instead of taking inmates from the jail to the Grant County Courthouse. Lawson said that on Mondays it was not unusual for officers to have to take 15 to 20 people to Grant County Court, most for arraignments.
Marion Chronicle 6-11-1995
Overcrowded Jail Plagues County
By Brian Stearman
Four years after two floors were added to the Grant County Jail, the facility is overcrowded.
And with the jail at about 50 inmates above its official capacity, Grant County authorities have a choice: fewer criminals or more space.
“That is pretty obvious,” Grant County Sheriff John Lawson said of what the county needs to do. “They are either going to spend the money to house the number of inmates you need to house in each of your individual counties, or they will end up with a federal mandate and it will cost them four times as much in the same period of time that it would take to pay off some things.”
Lawson said he has ordered a study about what needs to be done to the jail, pooling statistics.
“This is something you don’t want to rush,” Lawson said. “You want to be as accurate as you can the first itme. I don’t want someone to say we overreacted, and a year after I don’t want someone to say we didnn’t do enough. That is exactly what happened the last time. We built this structure and when we were done, it was full.”
The renovated jail opened in 1991. The $6.5 million project increased the facility 110-inmate capacity to 260. The current jail population, officials said: 310.
“Everything escalates,” he said. “Whether it is safety, obligation, responsibility, everything escalates when you are overcrowded. I consider it very serious – serious enough that I am preparing something for the council.”
Grant County Jail Commander Lt. Michael Lowe agreed. He deals with the day to day problems that being over capacity brings.
“Tempers flare in crowded environments. Manpower to move all these prisoners and the sheer record-keeping is overwhelming,” Lowe said. The jail currently has 28 jailers, making the ratio of staff to prisoner 1 to 11.
But not all of Grant County’s inmates should be in the county jail, technically. About 25 of the extra 50 inmates should be in the custody of the Indiana Department of Corrections. The DOC uses the jail to temporiarily house ZGrant County offenders on their way to state prisons. Pam Pattison, a DOC public information officer, said the state has even less room than the county does.
Housing state inmates in county jails “has had to be a practice we have had to do for some time,” Pattison said. Out of its six facilities statewide, four of them are over capacity. “But with tougher senticings by the court and communities getting tougher on crime, those who are sentenced will have to serve a longer length of time. And of course then, we have to keep them longer.
“And in turn, that presents an overcrowding situation. We work closely with 23 counties that we use as holding facilities.”
The Department of Corrections reimburses the county $35 a day for each inmate to house and feed them. But the state is behind in its payments to Grant and other counties. Pattison said the state plans to be up to date in its payments as of July 1.
And any future charges to the Grant County facilitity would have to be approved by the county commissioners and funded by the county council. And the county also faces financing renovations or new construction of the Youth Services Annex and resolving the air problems at the county government complex.
“As far as I am concerned the problem is at the state level,” said Phil Rybolt, chairman of the Grant County commissioners. “Now, so many people are sentenced to a state facility, they serve their sentence at the Grant County jail.”
Chronicle Tribune 8-13-1995
County will mull jail expansion
By Brian Stearman
A Steady increase in the Grant County Jail inmate population has kept the thought of additional jail expansion alive in Grant County Sheriff John Lawson’s mind.
But with budget time at hand and the county faced with the possibility of constructing a new county government complex, county council members say they need a few more facts before deciding the issue.
“I am,” Lawson said of considering another jail expansion. “And I have told the council that I need to, but I don’t think there is anything in the making.”
Renovations that added two floors to the current jail were completed in 1991 at a cost of $6.5 milliion. It boosted the then 110 inmate capacity to about 250. In June, there were more than 300 prisoners locked up at the jail.
The inmate population has dropped slightly since then: There were 273 prisoners Friday. Of those inmates, 29 were waiting to be transferred to the Indiana Department of Corrections.
And while there has been a bottleneck in the transfer of prisoners to DOC in recent years, Lawson said that is not what concerns him about the growing inmate population.
“Still doesn’t solve the problem,” Lawson said of shipping DOC inmats out of the jail. “We are actually an arm of DOC. They are our inmates. We are not housing out of county inmats, they committed their crimes here.”
He also said the county is paid for the temporary housing of Grant County offenders sentenced to state prison. The state pays the county $35 per day for each DOC sentenced inmate.
“Sure they could come and pick up their inmates, but they pay close to a quarter of a million income from DOC inmates,” he said. “So what are you going to do, cut off your nose to spite your face?”
By law, county jails are to house all Class D felony and misdemeanor offenders- people convicted of such crimes as theft and drinking and driving. It is also able to house some offenders who commit non-violent, Class C felonies such as fraud.
Grant County Council members say they would have to see all the facts before deciding if more cells are the answer to the county’s crowded jail.
“I would hesitate to go into a jail expansion at this time with all the things we have facing us,” Councilman Paul Baker said. “We are increasing, increasing and increasing our expenses, and we don’t seem to gain much financially.”
The council is preparing for budget hearings at the end of the month, with more than $13 million in requests from general fund departments. Among those are increased requests from the criminal justice system, including additional staff in the sheriff’s department, probation department and prosecutor’s office.
“I am concerned about the number of inmates that are reported to be in there,” Councilman Joe Isaacs said.
Chronicle Tribune 4-24-1997
Grant County Jail Population down
By Henry Hoenig
Fewer state prisoners were held in the Grant County Jail last year. As a result, the average inmate population was lower than capacity for the first time in four years.
Overcrowding at Department of Correction prisons has caused the state to hold more than 1,000 of its inmates in county jails around the state. That in turn, has caused overcrowding in the local jails, sheriffs say.
“In addition, the DOC requires county jails to hold prisoners convicted of misdemeanors or felonies that carry sentences of less than a year.
However, the average number of Grant County inmates sentenced to the Department of Correction but held locally has fallen significantly – from 30 a day in 1993 to five a day last year, according to statistics provided by the sheriff’s department.
Grant County Jail Commander Lt. Michael Lowe said the county has sent most of its DOC inmates to other counties that have a contract to keep DOC prisoners.
All of the inmates in the Grant County Jail are local prisoners, arrested and sentenced in the county, Lowe said.
Grant County has no contract with the DOC but is paid $35 a day for each DOC prisoner it holds, Lowe said.
Naturally, DOC payments have fallen sharply because of the reduced number of prisoners held- from $379,000 to $66,000 between 1993 and 1996.
On the other hand, last year the county held its jail population below capacity for the first time since 1992, Lowe said.
Since then, DOC holdings- and an increase in the normal jail population- had pushed the population about its 250person capacity, Lowe said.
The jail’s average inmate population was 24 above capacity in 1995.
Still, last year’s population still was difficult to manage given the different needs of male and female prisoners, as well as the need to separate offenders by the seriousness of their offenses, Lowe said.
Marion Chronicle Tribune 11-20-1999
Posting Bail made easy as check-out lane
Credit cards not yet accepted at city court
By Staff Writer Abbie Reese
Good credit can do more than help people when buying a car. Now, people arrested and brought to Grant County Jail can post cash bonds with a major credit card.
Grant County commissioners signed a contract Friday morning with Government Payment Services Inc. to allow the new payment method.
Capt. Mike Lowe, who oversees the juvenile detention center and the jail, said the credit card bail option helps alleviate weekend overcrowding.
“Inmates might have a line of credit they could tap into but couldn’t until business hours Monday,” Lowe said.
About half of Indiana’s county jails- including St. Joseph County Jail in South Bend- allows credit card bails.
St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mark Kovacs, said credit card bails have helped eliminate paperwork at the jail.
“It’s the best service that we are able to use,” he said. “It’s easier on us. It’s easier on (the inmates). They don’t have to dig around trying to come up with the money.”
Here how the process works: An inmate requests to charge the bail and then fills out a form for one of five credit cards – Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express or Diner’s Club International. The form is then faxed to Government Payment Services Inc. The inmate then makes a toll-free call to ZGovernment Payment Services Inc. which faxes to the jail an authorization or denial of the requested transaction.
If authorized, the inmate signed the form, “Much like you would at a check-out lane in a department store,” Lowe said.
Within two days, Government Payment Services Inc. will send the county clerk’s office a check for payment of the bail, Grant County Clerk Carolyn Mowery said.
After the inmate’s case has closed, the bail is refunded by check, Kovacs said.
Government Payment Services Inc. charges the inmates a fee, ranging from $20 to $145, for credit card bail payments up to $2,000. Bails higher than $2,000 bring an 8 – percent charge. And an inmate can charge as high a bail as he has credit to cover.
The county does not have to pay anything for the service.
“We lose nothing,” Grant County Commissioner David Glickfield Jr. said after the commission’s vote for approval Friday morning.
Mowery initially brought the program to the attention of the Grant County Sheriff’s Department. After talking with the four judges at the Grant County courthouse, three of whom approved of offering the credit card service, the department also thought it was a good idea.
“I think this is the way of the future really,” Mowery said Friday.
The credit card bail service is currently offered only to inmates charged through the Grant County Courthouse. Marion City Court currently does not have the service.
The county may soon offer credit card charges for speeding tickets from the Sheriff’s department, which could boost revenue from unpaid, outstanding tickets, Mowery said.
Before the credit card service was offered, inmates had three options to post cash bond: cash, cashier’s check or money order.
Marion Chronicle 2-21-2000
State inspector told county to add 12 jobs
By Cindy Carson
Two inmates who walked away from the Grant County Jail on Wednesday evening might illustrate why a state jail inspector told county officials last year that the county needed 12 additional jail guards.
“This would not have happened if we had an adequate number of personal in the jail,” said Jim Lugar, chief deputy with the sheriff’s department about the escape the trustees who walked away from the jail while carrying trash bags.
Paul Downing, a detention inspector for the state, advised council members last year that more jailers were needed.
“The request for jailers has been brought to our attention,” Grant County Councilman Tim Enyeart said Saturdsay. “It’s going to be a hard sell to convince me to hire more employees. I’m not convinced that the number of jailers is the problem. Do we need more employees or do we have too many inmates?”
“The problem,” Enyeart said, “is that the county jail houses inmates who should be in state prisons.”
“That shouldn’t be happening,” said Enyeart, a retired Marion police officer. “The jail was never built for that.”
It is a cry heard in many hoosier counties since state law makers decided that prison inmates must return to county jails a year before their release date.
And the Grant County Jail is overcrowded.
“I don’t think we need a new jail,” said Capt. Mike Lowe, supervisor of detention for the county. “We just need more employees.”
During a recent tour of the fourth floor cellblocks, Capt. Darrell Himelick pointed at a stack of mats used as beds by many inmats. On that day there wer e91 inmates in a floor designed to hold 72 men.
Overcrowding leads to violence. Fights that are bred in the day room are carried into cells outside the sight of the guard stateion, Himelick said.
Such a fight in January 1998 left an inmate permanently injured when blows to his head caused a brain stem stroke.
William Perkins was savagely beaten by another inmate, Randall Lahr, who received a 20 year sentence for the offense. Perkins filed suit in the U.S. District Court of Northern Indiana in Fort Wayne seeking $1 million in damages from Grant County Taxpayers. He is represented by Fort Wayne attorney Ralph Blume.
In 1999 a Cornerstone Behaviorlal Health Center employee, at the jail to counsel an inmate, was attacked in a meeting room and suffered severe injuries before a jailer realized what was happening. The room where the attack occurred was to the jailer’s back and across a hallway.
During disturbances, jailers are not allowed to enter cell blocks alone until the inmates are locked down in their cells. In rare instances, some fights have continued until a deputy could be called in from patrol to help. Jailers serve 12 hour shifts and cannot leave their stations unattended.
Enyeart said he has offered to talk with Grant County Sheriff Oatess Archey about restructuring the sheriff’s department or any other plan that might solve the problems.
“The sheriff has to take the lead in that,” Enyeart said.
That might be a hard sell to Archey who says he learned a lesson last July when he was asked what he would give up to get eight new jail guards. To get the jailers the sheriff sliced his budget request for three vehicles, cut all salary increases for the sheriff’s department as well as $20,000 needed for training.
The council accepted the cuts but did not approve hiring new employees.
“That agreement was never made officially,” said Enyeart.
As he recalled it, one council member said the sheriff’s department was cutting some of its requests, but wasn’t enough to tempt the council to approve more jailers. The motion died for lack of a second. The county, Enyeart said, had to hire 18 employees for the new juvenile detention center.
“We just ran out of money,” Enyeart said.
The council did not lalow the sheriff to undo those cuts from his budget request.
“Some of it has been returned,” Enyeart said about funds for three additional vehicles, “But, yes, He did lose out in that deal.”
In addition to staffing problems the sheriff’s department has lost longtime officers who go elsewhere to find better pay and benefits.
“I understand why they are doing that. Most of us work second and third jobs to make ends eet, “ Capt. Mike Ross said. “We have families to feed.”
The inmates who escaped, Felix Elliott Gonzales, 20, 300 N. Barclay St. Lot 41, Fairmount, and Chad Eric DeVoss, 25, 1711 W. Third St. were captured within hours at a motel on Ind. 9.
Marion Chronicle 11-2-2002
More crimes, trial delays blamed for increase
BY SEAN F.DRISCOLL
floor, it's not good."
Although jail personnel An overcrowded jail
say they've seen an over-
for
Delays in trials and plea agreements are overpopulating the Grant County Jail, straining employees' budgets and patience and creating cramped, tense conditions for inmates.
The jail's average daily population of inmates awaiting trials this year is 271.6 inmates-more than a dozen more people than the building's 258-person capacity. The jail's monthly average reached a two-year high in September when, on average, 302.6 people were incarcerated each day. "It's bad," said Grant County Sheriff Oatess Archey. "It's just not a healthy atmosphere to have many people housed at one time. When you have to put mats on the floor, it’s not good.”
Although jail personnel say they’ve seen an overall increase in all categories of jail inmates, including arrests for domestic violence, the biggest increase by far has been the numbers of inmates awaiting trials on felony charges.
Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Lowe, who oversees the cdepartment’s correctional facilities, said inmates served by public defenders often are kept in the jail for months awaiting trial. Lowe said that Director of Correctional Services Cindy McCoy is crunching numbers to determine which courts and public defenders are largely responsible for the problem.
“We are trying everything to get them out of there sooner,” Archey said. “We’ve meet with all fouring to determine which courts and judges and the prosecutors. to try and find some alternative sentences, Whatever the causes, the soaring jail population which reached an all-time high of 343 Inmates in August-has caused a ripple effect beyond the immediate problem of where everyone will sleep, Lowe said.
"It's caused large problems because we have increases in the number of beds, in the number of food trays, in the number of uniforms, in the number of towels, and a decrease in dollars from the (Grant County) Council," he said We are accommodating it, but we have to get rather resourceful
Although the Jall can accommodate 258 people, the cellblocks can get overcrowded, even if the entire jail not at capacity because the inmates are separated by the severity of their crimes, Lowe said.
To reach capacity, that's a very special mix," he said. Jall personnel also must be careful not to put inmates with known disputes together in the same cellblock and to try and keep problem inmates at different parts of the Jall at different times, Lowe said, "We have to be careful with where we put people," he said.
The increased Inmate population also have meant an increased turnover in jail officers. Jail commander Lt. Cathy Lee said while the 38 member jail staff typically has a high turnover rate, the problem is exacerbated with increased workloads capacity
They're bearing the brunt of what's going on," she said. "The job is a stepping stone, but it's just making things worse.
Besides the manpower Issue, the overflowing jail has created a fiscal crunch on the county. Sandie Graf, the sheriff’s department records clerk, said the food and medical budgets for the inmates are her two most pressing fiscal problems.
Inmates at the Grant County Jail receive three meals a day, which are prepared by fellow inmates and kitchen supervisors. Although the meals cost less than $1 per person poer meal, the county spent $300,000 to keep inmates fed in 2001, and will spend nearly $350,000 in 2002.
The jail’s medical costs also are soaring. In 2001, the jail spent it’s $140,000 medical budget by August and had to pay five months of bills in January once the new budget year kicked in. This year, it has $233,000 to spend of the year and is down to $36,000 for the rest of the year.
Graf said part of the healthcare cost hikes come from new federal laws that make jails the primary healthcare provider for all inmates, even if the inmates have health insurance of their own./
"That's what's going to hurt worse, he said.
Grant County's jail is not alone in its overcrowding woes. Paul Downing, jail inspector for the Indiana Department of Correction, said jail overcrowding has become a statewaide issue, with an average of 40 of the state’s 2 county jails, operating above capacity each year.
In April, Marion County judges ordered police there to issue citations in situations that usually would have resultedin an arrest in order to ease overcrowding. Jail officials already had been releasing inmates before their scheduled release dates following an order from a federal judge. That practice resulted in several inmates returning to jail accused of more serious crimes, including murder.
Downing said the number of statewide arrests has remained constant for several years, so he believes the increases in inmate populations are because of the changes in the courts that handle the offenders.
“The bond structures and plea bargains are among the things that keep increasing populations,” he said.
Although five Indianan counties have either built new jails or additions to current jails since 2000 to deal with increased inmate populations, Lowe said more space isn’t the answer.
“I’m in the business, but I don’t advocate a bigger jail,” he said. “We’re still one of the better jails. No one is sleeping in shifts or on concrete. Everyone is fed at the same time, and everyone manages to have a shower. It’s just unfortunate we have so many felony arrests.”
In April, Marlon County judges ordered police there to sue cita- tions in situations that usually would have resulted in an arrest Jall officials already had bean in order to ease overcrowding. releasing inmates before their scheduled release dates following an order from a federal judge That practice resulted in several inmates returning to jail accused of more serious crimes, including murder,
statewide arrests has remained Downing said the numbers of constant for several years, so he believes the increases in inmate populations are because of changes in the courts that handle the offenders
The bond structures and plea that keep increasing popula bargains are among the things tlons, he said.
have either bullt now jails or addi Although five Indiana counties tons to current jalls since 2000 to deal with increased inmate popu Jations, Lowe sald more space isn't the answer.
I'm in the business, but I don't advecate a bigger jail," he said. "We're still one of the better jalls. No one is sleeping in shifts or on concrete. Everyone is fed at the same time, and everyone man ages to have a shower. It's just unfortunate that we have so many felony arrests
Marion Chronicle Tribune 5-24-2004
Some inmates having to sleep on the floor
By whitney Ross
Like many jails in Indiana, the Grant County Jail is filled to the brim. Sometimes, it has been overflowing.
“You let one out the front door, and two come in the back,” said Sheriff’s Capt. Darryl Himelick.
The jail has been so crowded at times that there are three people to a cell meant for two. Those who are not sleeping on a bunk are sleeping on a makeshift bed on the floor.
“There is no difference in how comfortable either one is,” Himelick said. “They are on a mat on the floor with sheets and stuff.”
Capacity at the jail is 258 people. But actual numbers are regularly above that limit. Sunday’s jail count was at 301 inmates, for example.
And Himelick thinks those numbers will continue to go up this summer.
“When we have a nice warm weekend (we) may have a lot,” he said, “It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
He predicts the number could reach as high as 350 and, if that happens, he may have to begin to use rooms that are not designated for inmates.
Paul Downing, Director of Detention Services at the Indiana Department of Corrrections, said overcrowding at Indiana jails is not uncommon.
“At any one time, we have about 36 to 40 jails that are over crowded,” he said.
During his inspection of the jail, Downing recommended Grant County officials seek help from the National Instute of Corrections, which can provide them with a list of consultants to do an assessment of the jail.
Himelick said there really is no long term goal on how to deal with the overcrowding, but to take it day by day.
“I’m doing the best the department can in housing them,” he said.
Officials said most of the crimes that are putting people in jail are drug and alcohol related.
In 2003, there were 848 inmates in for alcohol related charges and 292 on drug related offenses, according to jail stastistcs.
Himelick said he did not know of any one specific reason why people continually flow in and out of the jail.
“A lot of them don’t have respect for themselves,” Himelick said. “The biggest reason why they’re here is their choice.”
Chronicle-Tribune 10-20-2004
No answers yet on who will foot inmate food bill
Account for jail food currently has only $1.56
BY PAUL MCKIBBEN
There appears to be no agreement- yet about who will pay for food for prisoners at the Grant County Jail.
There has been more inmates fed in the past year with less mooney to do it.
“They’ve cut me back to 2003 funding,” said Sheriff Oatess Archey.
Now the account to purchase the food has a balance of $1.56.
But County Auditor Mike Burton says he won’t pay any bills that are brought to his office, citing a state a law that prevents him from paying a claim if there’s not sufficient money.
“It’s like overdrawing your checkbook,” he said. “What normally happens when we notify a department that they’re running short, they will normally come in and talk to us and we’ll try to look through their budget and see if there’s money to transfer from one account that has extra money to the one that’s deficient… Now the sheriff has not been up to talk to me.”
The county began 2004 with $265,000 for inmate food, but the sheriff’s department spent down the account. Archey had sasked for $280,000 in the budget he submitted for the year. The sheriff since has asked county council to provide an additional $100,000 for food.
In 2003 the jail food budget was $280,000. Archey received a $55,000 transfer last October to add more money to the account.
The contract between Archey and the county states “the council shall make an appropriation in the usual manner from the county general fund for feeding prisoners.”
That means it’s the county to pay for that part of the jail operation- not the sheriff "They are saying how that there are no funds, Archey said. Some county officials, including Burton, have pointed to the sheriff's commissary fund which receives money from prisoners who pay to purchase items at the jail, as one place Archey might find some money. The fund is separate from other county funds and is under the sole control of the sheriff.
"We're basically allowing the sheriff to operate a convenience store at our expense, said County Councilman Robert Monroe, D-At-Large of the fund But the sheriff said that commissary money should not be used for the daily purchase of food for prisoners and instead is needed for capital purchases at the department.
Archey said he has used the fund to obtain a grant to replace a 1965 model van that was being used as the SWAT vehicle, It has also been used to upgrade police equipment and buy a camera to record the booking of inmates. The sheriff said that some county officials want control of the fund.
"They know I have this little kitty fund and they want me to feed the inmates out of it, Archey said.
Commissary money is also off limits for personal use by sheriff.
The fund can be spent only on department expenses. Before it could be spent for prisoner food it would have to be approved by both the sheriff and the county council.
Archey said the only money he receives to do his job is his $90,000 annual salary that is his contract with Grant County. The salary matches the amount paid the county prosecutor and the circuit court judge.
In accepting a contract, he has foregone a fee of 10 percent on all collected tax warrants in the county, which he is permitted under state. He also has declined a fee for providing meals to inmates. Any such income is now designated to go to the general fund of the county.
Archey said he asked for a contract this year because the council tried to cut his salary last year.
Regardless, inmates won't starve. Archey has also said he'll keep buying food but he'll take the bills to Burton.
"From a practical matter, yes, the prisoners have to be fed. Everybody knows that," Burton said. "But we're going to have work out a way to take care of that by getting some money into that account. It's not the auditor’s job to come up with the money. It's up to the department to do that."
Archey said he is trying to get along with the council and others but money for inmate meals is legally to come from the county general fund and not from elsewhere in the sheriff's department.
Burton's office says $299,796.70 was spent on inmate food last year.
Chronicle-Tribune 10-28-2004
Company asks jail to improve security, or else
Facility could lose insurance without upgrade
BY SEAN F. DRISCOLL
The company that provides liability insurance to the county is recommending changes to the Grant County Jail, but Sheriff. Oatess Archey said they won't happen without a serious infusion of cash.
The letter, dated Aug. 16 addressed to Archey from Kokomo based Downey Insurance, suggests installing video cameras on the second and third floors of the jail to increase security and updating or replacing the entire jail to relieve overcrowding.
The letter doesn’t state what will happen if the county doesn’t comply with the recommendations but officials are concerned about the implications to their liability insurance.
“From my understanding this is getting themselves up to distance themselves from any possible litigation and put ownership on us,” said Commissioner Jeremy Diller. “They want to put it in writing and have it out there and see how people respond.”
Every month this year, the jall's average population has been above the stated capacity of 258 people, according to data from the Grant County Sheriff's Department. The lowest point was in January when the average was 261; the highest monthly average was in August when the population averaged 335 people
Archey said he's working with other county officials to try and on won't support a taller build, relieve the overcrowding problem, which has put a strain on fiscal resources to feed, clothe, and provide medical treatment to the inmates.
“We are working with the judges, we’re working with the public defenders, and they’re all working together to get these people out as quickly as we can,” Archey said.
But the solutions offered by Downey Insurance are fraught with problems, Archey said.
The jail can’t have extra floors added to it because the foundation won’t support a taller building, Archey said. With jail downtown, there’s little room to expand outward. And any solution would likely be a multi-million dollar construction project, an unfriendly possibility to the already cash-poor county.
The department is working slowly on replacing and updating security cameras in the jail complex, but any large-scale additions or renovations don’t seem practical, Archey said.
Overcrowding is unhealthy and dangerous for everyone,” he said. “The more people we have the more general confusion we’ve got.
Diller said he would like to form a committee with other commissioners to examine the causes of the jail overcrowding and brain storm solutions.
If he’s unable to do so this year, he’ll do so in January, when two new commissioners will take office and replace lame duck members David Glickfield Jr. and Karen Bostic Weaver.
“It’s definitely concerning me. It’s something we need to address,” Diller said. “If it’s not addressed now, it will be addressed at the first of the year.
Chronicle Tribune 10-29-2004
Outside help needed to fix jail overcrowding Facility has been over capacity for all of 2004
BY SEAN DRISCOLL
A state official has once again recommended that Grant County officials get some outside help to determine the cause and possible solutions for persistent overcrowding at the local jail.
Paul downing, director of detention services at the Indianan Department of Correction, conducted a repeat inspeaction of the Grant County Jail on Wednesday and once again found the jail was above its stated capacity of 258 inmats.
Every month this year, the jail’s average population has been above the stated capacity of 258 people, according to adata from the Grant County Sheriff’s Department. The lowest point was in January when the average was 261; the highest monthly average as in August when the population averaged 335 people.
Other than the overcrowding, Downing said the jail facility was in good shape.
“The jail itself was clean, quiet and orderly,” he said. “I was impressed with that considering the number of inmates they have.”
Downing has recommended to Sheriff Oatess Archey that he seeks assistance from the National Instutute of Corrections, which conducts local systems assessments for county jails.
That assessment, which is free of charge to local governments, would include a comprehensive examination of the judicial system, including prosecution policies, public denfeders, sentencing guidelines and bond regulations.
Study recommendations would be presented at a public hearing and would include possible remedies.
“The answer to overcrowding is not always a new jail,” Downing said. “It’s a great way to start out, find out what’s causing this and find out how we can remedy this.”
Downing made a similar recommendation following a March jail inspection, but Archey said he hadn’t acted on it yet.
“To be very honest, we’ve been trying to hold off,” he said. “We were just hoping the numbers would go down, but it doesn’t seem to going that way.”
Archey said he’s now planning to have his staff contact the National Institute of Corrections to get the ball rolling on a local systems assessment.
“He’s strongly recommending it, and on the advice of the state jail inspector, I’d better do it,” he said.
The sheriff’s department had also recently been warned about its overcrowding situation by Kokomo-based Downey Insurance, which provides the county’s liability insurance.
The letter recommended the sheriff relieve the overcrowding by building a new or bigger jail, although Archey considers those options to be unrealistic because of the costs involved.
The letter did not specify how the county’s insurance policies might be affected if the recommendation was not followed.
Chronicle Tribune January 27, 2005
New Jail not the answer, experts say
Advice includes ways to improve efficiency now
By Paul McKibben
Overcrowding in the Grant County Jail is an issue that must be addressed. But building a larger facility is not the short-term solution, according to consulatants with the National Institute of Correction.
Instead of more construction, the experts recommendations include purchasing software so officials can better analyze data, bringing in an outside facilitator and developing a strategic plan.
“As long as you keep that facility under the rate of capacity, you add some more staff to make it safe, then you can operate that physical plant,” said Bill Crout, one of the consultants, “It’s an expensive plant to oeperate because it’s very inefficiently designed.”
The current jail was built in the 1980s. An addition was built a decade later. Overcrowding has consistently been a problem during recent times. Among the structural problems for the jail is its kitchen, which is supposed to serve 150 people. The jail’s population as of 5:06 p.m. Thursday was 266 people. Capacity is 258.
Crout also told the group gathered for the community meeting Wednesday at the Marion Public Library that the average length of stay of inmates should not be as high as it is.
He suggested the county do a cost-benefit analysis that looks out over 20 years and see if it’s cheaper to build a new jail that would take less staff to operate.
But Grant County Sheriff Oatess Archey said if officials can better manage how people get into the jail and leave it, that will solve some of the problems. Then thoughts about building a jail can be entertained later, he added.
“We can’t afford it,” he said. “Taxpayers can’t afford it.”
Grant County Council President Mike Row, R-District 4, said he will convene a committee of local officials.
“Now we know for the most part what the issues are, and through this criminal justice committee, I think we can bring the stakeholders together (and) create an ongoing dialogue,” he said.
“And I think it’s imperative that the council head this up because of the funding issues that are impacted.”
Some inmates are sleeping on mats, something that Crout said shouldn’t be done. He suggested that cots be purchased to alleviate the problem.
There were some positives for local officials, including the jail’s cleanliness.
“The staff are very dedicated,” Crout said. “I think it’s a well-0managed jail in the sense that the staff are doing the absolute best job they can with the tools that they’ve been provided to use.”
Chronicle Tribune Jun 24, 2005
'Time bomb'
CHRONICLE TRIBUNE MARION, INDIANA
Sheriff warns of dangers brought on by overcrowding at Grant County Jail as local officials work to avoid lawsuit
BY KRISTIN HARTY
Officials have started an eamest discussion about how to ease overcrowding at the Grant County Jail - before a potential federal court mandate that could cost the county millions.
About 20 leaders in the criminal justice system, including judges, the sheriff, public defenders and the prosecutor, met for the first time Monday to figure out ways to get overcrowding under control.
They might not have much time.
An attorney for the Indiana Civil Liberties Union confirmed Thursday that he is considering filing lawsuit against the county to force a reduction in the number of people behind bars.
The jail, located in downtown Marion, has a capacity of 250, but for months it has been housing far more inmates, peaking one day in May at 384.
Thursday, 334 suspected criminals resided within its walls.
"We've been n getting a lot of complaints about the jail and the overcrowding and the effects of overcrowding said Ken Faulk, legal director for the ICLU, Indianapolis. He visited the Grant County Jail on May 6, conferring with four inmates who had specific grievances. He i also toured the six-story structure and talked with jail staff.
Faulk, who has filed lawsuits against about eight other county jails in Indiana in recent years because of overcrowding, said Thursday that Grant County's Jail is among the most crowded he's
"It's a troubling situation," Faulk said. "It's dangerous for the staff, it's dangerous for the prisoners." Nobody on either side of the bars is denying that is the case.
A National Institute of Corrections report given to local officials Jan. 26 confirms that the jail is overcrowded and understaffed. It urges local officials to act, recommending a number of strategies for how to get the job done.
Sheriff Oatess Archey, who commissioned the free NIC study at the behest of state jail inspection officials, told the Grant County Council earlier this month that the situation is "out of control. "We are sitting on a time bomb, and we can do nothing about it," Archey said in an interview. adding that overcrowded conditions cause more fights and unrest among inmates and high turnover for staff.
Inside the concrete structure at 214 E. Fourth St., signs of strain are everywhere.
On the jails fourth and 6th floors, some cells are packed with three beds, and cots are scattered across the common space areas to provide everyone a place to sleep.
In the basement kitchen, inmate work crews help a single female supervisor cook almost around the clock to keep everyone fed. The kitchen, built to serve 100 people, now provides daily meals for more than three times as many an average of 300 mouths.
In the ground floor infirmary, where inmates go for medical attention, nurses say they're sing up cellblock scuffles and fights, said Nan Brankle, LPN and medical officer.
"Anything from a headache to beat up, head slammed on bars," Brankle said.
Johnny Jones, 21, Marion, has been an inmate at the jail for 14 months.
"You can't even use the bathroom at night," he said, adding that cells are too crowded for inmates to move around. "It's past hot. Imagine three people sleeping in a call with all that hot breath.”
Inmate Will Hemphill, 32, Marion, said sometimes inmates have to fight for bunks because there aren't enough.
"There is so much stress." Hemphill said.
Thursday, cellblocks were crowded but clean. Inmates, some wearing the traditional orange ja
Jumpsuits, others wearing T-shirts and shorts, were generally orderly and under control.
"There is high tension," said Lt. Cathy Lee, commander of the jail. She's down four jailers and trying to fit at least two open positions. Everyone is uneasy."
After the ICLU's visit to the jail in May, Lee sent an urgent e-mail to the Grant County Commissioners, telling them that she sees the “writing on the wall” for a lawsuit against the county.
If the ICLU lawsuit, that could lead to action by a federal judge, which would strip local officials of control of the jail. In a federal mandate, a judge typically sets a cap on the number of inmates allowed, forcing the county to house inmates elsewhere and pay daily fees.
Costs for transporting inmates to and from an out-of-county jail would quickly skyrocket, Lee said.
"My job is to maintain this jail for the staff and inmates and to try to the best of my ability to prevent her May 11 e-mail to commissioners, which she consider a heads-up
Thursday, Lee said: "I don't know what else we can do. All we are is the keeper of the keys. We just continue to do our day jobs as best we can."
Commissioners sent county administrator Angela Banter to Monday's inaugural meeting to discuss overcrowding solutions. Grant County Council President Mike Row attended as well.
“I’m very optimistic we can come up with a solution for this because we have all the stakeholders engaged in the process,” said Row, who with Archey and county judges pushed for the formation of a committee after the NIC recommended . Row called the committee a "good faith effort” to remedy overcrowing and “avoid any future tigation against the county.”
A first step for the study committee is to find funds to buy software that will help the sheriff's department better track inmates and analyze data.
Howard County, which recently bought such software at the recommendation of the NIC, has seen their average inmate population drop from more than 326 to 259. The software allows for prisoners to be listed based on how long they have been an inmate at the jail and to which court they were assigned. Prisoners previously were listed only alphabetically. The system allows inmates to go through the court process more quickly.
"These problems are not unique to Grant County," said Jerry Shull, director of the Grant County Sheriff's Department Work Release Program chairman of the Jail Study Committee. "They're all over the country. It’s a challenge, but all of us involved in this are up to meeting it.”
The committee is scheduled to meet again in about 90 days.
Marion Chronicle Tribune 6-28-2005
Article published Jun 28, 2005
Overcrowded jail can hold county hostage
Almost any answer demande sacrifice or major changes
The simplest and most obvious solution to overcrowding at the Grand County Jas for people to behave themselves and not break the law. Then they can sleep in their own beds at night.
Technically, the jail has a capacity of 268, but that number has been a memory for months. The high point was 384 in May. Late last week, around 335 convicted and suspected criminals were behind bars there.
A committee of about two dozen members of the criminal justice system, including judges, the sheriff, public defenders and the prosecutor are looking for ways to solve the problem.
Let's hope they find an answer quickly, because the other alternative is for either the state or federal able to solve our own problems.
But they need to hurry because the Indian Civil Liberties Union has a lawsuit in the works.
It's true that the convicted criminals are in jail because of something they chose to do. (Many would argue Apparently, they failed)
But, as plenty of courts have ruled plenty of times, living like sardines in an overripe can should not be part of their punishment.
The solution, whatever it is, likely will be drastic.
Do we expand the jail once again?
Do we use more aggressive alternative sentences such as home detention and/or electronic monitoring that keep non-violent offenders out of jail?
Do we farm out our inmates to other counties?
Do we rely on a work-release center to relieve pressure on the jail?
And what about the size of the jail's kitchen and the size of the jail staff?
Muddying the situation is next year's election, which includes races for county council district seats, prosecutor, sheriff, the District 3 commissioner seat and the Grant Circuit and Grant Superior 2 judgeships. Each of those offices is involved in the criminal justice system in some way.
Society wants tough law enforcement. They want criminals off the street. But that means there must be adequate housing. Those facilities are not cheap.
The committee has a tough problem that is, in reality, a problem for all of us. And the solution, whatever it is, will involve all of Grand County as well, whether we like it or not.
Marion Chronicle Tribune 8-6-2008
Article published Aug 6, 2008
Beds help raise jail capacity
Jail remains over capacity by 14 heads Thursday
BY BARRY WILLIAM WALSH
The building which Grant County Sheriff Oatess Archey dubbed the largest hotel in Grant County the Grant County Jail is officially 10 beds larger after a state jail inspection Wednesday.
Grant County sheriff's Lt. Cathy Lee, jail commander, said that the 16 beds added to the jail's maximum capacity had actually been in place for awhile. Because the beds were originally not properly in place during past inspections that the Grant Cour Jail's capacity remained at 258 people.
But the beds are now permanently affixed by welds, making the additions good enough to up the jail’s official capacity.
"The jail inspector was in (Wednesday) and said that the space was adequate, and he had no problem with what we’ve done,” said Grant County sheriff’s Capt. Kevin Pauley, who oversees the confinement division. “Basically we got their blessing, so our jail now officially has 274 beds instead of 258 beds.”
Late Thursday evening, the Grant County Jail had a total count of 288 people, almost 100 fewer high than a high count of 384 inmates the building reached earlier in the summer. With the higher maximum capacity, the jail was only over capacity by 14 inmates Thursday.
Pauley said other criminal justice agencies have been working together to continue to address overcrowding at the jail.
"We are currently working with the prosecutor's office and the Grant County courts to address our overcrowding problem. Everyone has been real helpful,” he said.
Earlier in the summer, Ken Falk, legal director for the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, toured the facility and questioned inmates about their living conditions, giving rise to speculation about a federal lawsuit over conditions at the jail. No such lawsuit has been filed yet.
Despite the higher maximum capacity and recently lower jail counts, Lee is not ready to say the Grant County Jail is out of the woods.
don't know what's going to happen anymore," Lee said. "Our hands are bed, and we just have to do the best we can with what they give us."
September
Marion Chronicle Tribune 9-10-05
Jail on lockdown after spate of violence
Frequent fights lead officers to revoke privileges
BY BARRY WILLIAM WALSH
Prisoners in the Grant County Jail will be without visitors, telephone calls and television at least through the weekend after officials suspended the privileges following a rash of violence and misbehavior.
"We have just had problems in the jail," said Grant County Sheriff's Capt. Kevin Pauley, in charge operations. “There have been a lot of fights occurring and a lot of contraband found in the jail.”
Pauley said that the visitation, telephone and TV privileges have been revoked since Thursday and are scheduled to be reinstated Monday.
"Inmates still have access to attorney visits and the chaplains on staff that they can talk to if they need to,” Pauley said. “They are still getting their U.S. Mail, which we cannot hold from them, and they are still getting their shower privileges.”
Pauley said a large number of fights had been occurring-too many for him to count and that Lt. Cathy Lee, Grant County Jail commander, told him that the situation in the jail has never been this bad in all the time that she has been employed.
It was at that point, Pauley said, that he decided to lock down the jail.
"Unfortunately the jail is much like the military," he said. "There are people upstairs that have not been involved in fights or the trafficking of contraband but are still on lockdown due to the actions of their fellow inmates.”
Pauley also said the fights are becoming more serious.
“We are sending people to the hospital because of the fights, and we are having to call ambulances because of the fights, and that’s a cost,” he said. “It’s a cost on the taxpayers, and we had to get a handle on the situation.”
Lee said fights are occurring on a daily basis- an unusual situation for the jail- and that the increased number of problems could be caused by overcrowding.
Late Friday there were 323 inmates at the jail, almost 50 over the building’s capacity.
Lee also noted that what the contraband jail officers are finding is similar to that which is found in any jail in the country, including tobacco, lighters, toothbrushes and combs sharpened to a point for use as a weapon.
Lee said ultimately, releasing prisoners from the lockdown situation will be a direct result of their behavior.
“The lockdown could be longer depending on actions of the people in the cell blocks,” she said. “It is all based on their actions.”
Chronicle Tribune 12-17-2005
Tensions cool at jail as overcrowding abates
Population still above capacity, but new programs have reduced numbers, improved inmates journey through justice system
BY BARRY WILLIAM WALSH bwwalshmarion.gannett.com
Throughout the fall, the number of inmates at the Grant County Jail has continued to well above the inmate capacity of 274 on a daily basis, including on Friday. Still, members of a county committee addressing jail overcrowding say the jail population, while still too high, is headed in the right direction.
"We feel like we've made significant progress," said Jerry W. Shull, director of the Grant County Sheriff's Department Work Release Program and chairman of the Jail Study Committee. "If we would not have taken action within the committee, our population would have gone over 400," The committee's actions also mean more people who would have remained in jail under the old methods are being freed sooner.
Friday afternoon there were 308 prisoners in the jail, equaling the average thus far for the first 16 days of December and falling about 40 under the 351 inmates the jail averaged during the month of May.
Friday's population was about 70 less than the 2005 single-day high of 384 reached in May. An early release program recommended by the committee is largely responsible.
"It's definitely had a positive effect, numbers-wise," said Kevin Pauley, the sheriff's captain in charge of jail operations.
He said the prisoners who are being turned out early are non-violent offenders within 60 days of their scheduled release.
Every two months, Pauley receives a list of prisoners within 60 days of their scheduled release He reviews the list with Shull, removing those convicted of violent crimes. Shall then takes the list to Grant County Prosecutor James Luttrull Jr., who inspects it.
"Luttrull reviews the list with his prosecutorial staff, and they dwindle that list even further down," Pauley said. "Then Deputy Shull takes the list to all of the courts. The judges have the ultimate final say."
Pauley said committee members feel the early release process is working, but he cautioned that it wasn't the final fix for anyone, including repeat offenders.
"We are seeing some of them back a day later on alcohol charges," he said of the prisoners released early. "No matter what you do to get them out of here, they come back."
Other programs implemented include an effort to help inmates find employment and get out of Jail if they've been incarcerated for not paying child support.
"People that come to jail for nonpayment of child support now have 40 hours-four hours a day for 10 days to leave the jail to find jobs," Shull said. "Once they find employment and garnishments are in place on their paychecks, they are released.
The county also gives inmates reductions on sentences for participation in certain self-help programs, including substance abuse programs and Thinking for a Change," a program that teaches inmates to function within the law outside jail, Shull said.
There are also more direct ways of reducing the jail population now being used, including lower bonds for certain crimes.
"For example, public intoxication is $200 in Marion City Court," Shull said.
Now someone arrested on that charge can be released after 24 hours in jail and a criminal records check, assuming they've sobered up.
Those charged for the first time with driving with a suspended license face a process similar to that established for public intoxication.
Also, as part of the drive to lower the jail population, marijuana possession no longer means automatic incarceration. Citations with a court date are being issued for possession under 30.
Grant County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Hunt said the committee also is looking for ways to reduce the length of time that probation violators stay in jail.
"We look at the reason why they violated their probation," Hunt said. "If it was a relatively minor violation, that's one thing, but if they committed another crime, we tend to not look at that rather
Each week, the sheriff's department furnishes courts with a database detailing who is currently being held and for how long, Shull said. That allows the courts to make better decisions on how to move prisoners through the system.
It's hoped that the changes not only will improve the criminal justice system's workings, but also that they will appease the Indiana Civil Liberties Union.
ICLU Legal Director Ken Faulk toured the crowded jail May 6 and met with four inmates concerning specific grievances. The organization has sued Indiana counties in the past concerning overcrowding in jails.
Silence from the ICLU over Grant County's situation is being taken as a positive sign.
"Since we got this committee up and running and are taking the steps that we are now, we haven't heard anything from them," Pauley said.
And those employed in the Grant County Jail have noticed the difference. "It's a lot better. It's not as stressful," said Anthony Marin, Grant County Jail officer. "Of course there's going to be less tension in (an area of jail cells) when there's 30 less people there."
Chronicle Tribune 9-23-2006
Overcrowding worsens
Average jail population hits high for year
By Barry Walsh
Grant County Jail is once again hitting a high mark for the year for overcrowding.
The average daily population for the 274 inmate capacity jail is 340 inmates so far this month, the highest it’s been since January. The population dipped to a law average of 301 inmates in March and stayed comparatively low until now.
Sheriff Oatess Archey and Capt. Kevin Pauley spend much of their days concerned with that number, which has been climbing at an alarming rate. Friday, there were 343 inmates in the jail.
“Every day we look at those numbers and we see them mounting, and I think it’s just that we have more violent offenders,” Archey said of the current population cruch. “The bottom line is we cannot put violent offenders back on the street; it’s not fair to the citizens.”
Pauley said the spike is one the department has come to expect.
“Historically, our population in the jail usually goes up in July, August and September,” Pauley said. “I can attribute that to warmer weather. People are more active … and you have those individuals out in the community who want to cross the line.
“Once winter gets here, history shows that the numbers will go down and we’ll be OK until the spring. It’s just a roller coaster ride.”
In December, the jail population dipped about 40 inmates below the 2005 high of 351 inmats. At that time, jail officials credited the drop to an early release program. Since then, the population has remained consistently above 300.
Despite the increased averages, Archey said they have heard nothing from American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana’s director, Ken Faulk, who toured the facility and interviewed inmates in May 2005.
A message left with Faulk was not returned Friday.
The early release program was instituted in 2005, after a jail overcrowding committee was formed to deal with record-high populations. Minor offenders, such as people arrested for public intoxication or driving with a suspended license, often are released after 24 hours in jail and a background check.
“We have never kept on the list a sex offender or a violent offender,” Pauley said of who is eligible for early release. “That’s not happening, and it’s never going to happen.”
Pauley and Archey said they have been in the process of exploring new avenues to get inmates out of the jail but said they aren’t sure what else can be done to help lower the jail population.
One avenue that neither Pauley nor Archey said is even being considered as a viable option is the construction of a new jail.
“We can’t even consider it right now,” Archey said.
Chronicle Tribune 1-23-2007
ACLU sues county over jail count
Group: Officials had time to fix overcrowding
By Teresa Auch
Jail overcrowding has gone on for long enough in Grant County, the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Libertes Union said. So, the chapter has filed a lawsuit against county officials to correct the problem.
Kenneth Falk, the chapter’s legal director, said the state ACLU decided to file the suit because the county has failed to take significant steps to bring down the population of the Grant County Jail despite having the time to do so.
“I think the problem is a persistent one,” Falk said. “Obviously, the county is well aware of the problem but has chosen not to react to it.”
The lawsuit was filed late Friday in U.S. District Court, Fort Wayne, Falk said. The suit says it was filed on behalf of Richarh Tyson, with a request to turn it into a class-action suit on behalf of other inmates at the Grant County Jail.
Tyson, 30 last known address 3718 S. Granton Place, has been in jail since Aug. 8, 2005, on charges of dealing in more than three grams of ococaine.
The Grant County sheriff and commissioners are listed as the defendants. No one is listed by name.
Neither Sheriff Darrell Himelick nor Commissioners President Mark Bardlsey had heard about the lawsuit as of late Monday afternoon.
Bardsley said he was not surprised the ACLU had filed suit.
“I know that they have looked at it for quite some time,” he said.
Overcrowding at the jail has been a problem for a while. The jail’s official capacity is 274, and the population has been above that or previous capacity limits nearly every day for at least five years.
Monday’s population was 319.
The ACLU has complained before, as has Downey Insurance, which provides the county’s liability insurance. In 2004, the Indiana Department of Correction recommended the county needed outside help, and in 2005, the county formed a committee to deal with the problem.
Himelick said the county has started using several programs, such as early release, to help bring down the population. Those have helped somewhat, so he was surprised by the lawsuit.
“The numbers are down quite a bit from the past,” the sheriff said, adding that he, unlike Bardsley, was surprised by the lawsuit.
It’s not enough, though, Falk said.
The lawsuit claims the jail is understaffed and the large population has led to physical fights. Two grievance forms by Tyson attached to the lawsuit repeat those claims and more.
“It’s affecting our food rations also,” Tyson writes in one of the forms. “It seems like there’s not enough money in the county to properly house all these inmates.”
On another grievance form, he writes "There are too many people in this block, and the overcrowding is causing tension between the inmates.”
The ACLU has received other calls complaining about jail conditions, Falk said.
Possible solutions would be building new jail, which the county has previously said was too expensive, or looking at more programs to get people out of jail faster.
Not taking action is unconstitutional, Falk said.
“We’re talking about the minimal measures of life’s necessities,” Falk said. “…It reflects badly on the community, that the community tolerates that treatment of anyone.”
It also creates an unsafe working environment, he claims.
However, Himelick said no matter what the population, the jail always would be dangerous work environment because of its nature.
"That's what we're working in every day," Himelick said of all law enforcement.
Because the lawsuit was filed Friday, the county has not had time to respond to it. Bardsley said he assumed the county would defend itself, although he and others would need to look at the lawsuit before deciding their next step.
Journal Reporter 1-31-2007
Lawsuit filed over Grant County jail conditions
A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of a Grant County Jail inmate claims that the constitutional rights of prisoners are being violated by overcrowded conditions.
The lawsuit was needed because county officials have failed to take significant steps toward bringing down the jail’s population, said Kenneth Falk, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which filed the suit.
The jail’s official capacity is 274, and it has held at least that many prisoners nearly every day for at least five years. County officials reported that on Monday the jail held 319 people.
County commissioners President Mark Bardsley said Monday he assumed the county would defend itself against the lawsuit.
Bardsley said he was not surprised by the lawsuit.
“I know that they have look at it for quite some time,” he said.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Richarh Tyson, who has been in the jail since August 2005 on charges of dealing cocaine.
The state Department of Correction recommended in 2004 the county seek outside help to improve the situation.
Sheriff Darrell Himelick said the county has started using several programs, such as early release, to help reduce the number of prisoners.
“I think the problem is a persistent one,” Falk said. “Obviously, the county is well aware of the problem but has chosen not to react to it.”
chronicle-tribune 2-7-2007
County Hires Jail Suit Help
The Grant County Commissioners and Grant County Sheriff Darrell Himelick agreed to hire Indianapolis attorney Michael Morrow to represent them in a lawsuit dealing with overcrowding at the Grant County Jail.
The commissioners voted 2-0 Tuesday to approve the hire of Morrow, from the law firm Stephenson, Morrow and Semler, at the rate of $150 an hour.
Commissioner Jeremy Diller was absent.
The commissioners and sheriff are being sued by the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Grant County Jail inmate Richarh Tyson.
The suit claims that continual overcrowding at the jail for numerous years has led to an unsafe environment for inmates and workers.
The suit also says the overcrowding means cells are cramped and has produced food shortages.
Himelick said they decided to choose the law firm, which has done previous work for the county, because of its knowledge of these kinds of lawsuits.
“From a financial standpoint, I feel comfortable with it, too,” Himelick said.
Commissioner Mark Bardsley said the next step would be for Morrow to file his position as attorney for the county with the federal court. The court will then consider several motions in the case and whether to dismiss them, he said.
Chronicle Tribune 2-11-2007
Inmate: County ignored jail mess
Attorney, officials hope to settle suit quickly, quietly
BY TERESA AUCH
The man suing Grant County for jail overcrowding claims the issue is one officials have long known about but have dealt with flippantly.
Richark Tyson, who is suing the county through the Indiana branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote a letter explaining his concerns with the overcrowding and why he has filed suit.
And while the attorney for the ACLU hopes to settle the matter quickly and with little fanfare, not all such cases have gone well.
Attorney Kenneth Falk filed suit Jan. 19 in U.S. District Court, Fort Wayne, on behalf of Tyson, citing that the jail has been continually overcrowded, a situation that has led to an unsafe environment for both employees and inmates. Falk has asked that the suit be expanded to a class action suit, which would include many more, if not all, inmates at the jail.
The suit names the Grant County commissioners and sheriff as defendants.
Tyson, 30, last known address 3718 S. Granton Place, has been in jail since Aug. 8, 2005, on charges of dealing in more than three grams of cocaine.
In his letter, he says that he is still awaiting trial after 18 months. He says, in his cell block meant for 12, 13 people currently live, with 11 of them not having been sentenced.
"...This jail has been overcrowded for five years," Tyson wrote. "The county thought it was a joke.
"They feel they're above the law."
Tyson writes that he feels the county has not paid serious attention to the issue and that because of it, people's Constitutional rights have been violated.
Falk said his concern is that the Grant County Jail should meet the minimum requirements for the inmates' basic needs, which isn't happening right now.
And while he hopes to solve the matter in a timely fashion that is acceptable to both parties, not all such cases have gone that way.
Delaware County went through a decade-long court battle in the 1980s that ended up costing $28 million and resulted in a new jail, said Ron Quakenbush, a county commissioner at the time.
"We did everything wrong," he said the county had to do something about its overcrowding.
Quakenbush said the county's main problem was that no one was on the same page one group wanted on thing while another wanted to do something else. No one could agree on what should be done.
"Too many people were stirring the pot," he said.
He also said the county didn't communicate well enough with the public, who wrongly thought that people in the jail already were proven guilty, and therefore wondered why they should spend more money on the inmates.
Typically, most people in a county jail are awaiting trial and have yet to be sentenced.
Falk said he hopes to avoid a similar fate, and that most comparable cases he has worked on have ended with the two sides coming to a mutual agreement with the encouragement of the judge.
"I'm hoping the county recognizes there's a problem, and I'm sure they do," he said.
Commissioner Eric Walts said he did not want to comment because the suit was pending.
However, he did say he had faith in the county's attorney, Indianapolis' Michael Morrow.
He also said the county is continually working to implement programs that will help to reduce the jail's overcrowding.
He said there is a problem with inmates not getting to trial soon enough.
"If someone's sitting there for two years without being sentenced, why?" Walts said. A new software program that the county plans to implement this spring should help reduce that problem, though, he said.
The program will provide information on all inmates, such as long they've been in Jail, to all people in the justice system, including the courthouse.
Previously, the judges didn't know how long someone had been awaiting trial, meaning someone could fall through the cracks.
"It will provide us a better snapshot and provide us better data to manage our jail.
Other programs being started are meant to take people out of the jail and place them In counseling instead. Walts said he did not know how much these programs would help to reduce the jail population.
But whether these programs will be enough to satisfy the request of the ACLU to provide adequate conditions in the jail will have to wait to be determined.
The Indiana Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Grant County sheriff and commissioners on Tyson's behalf in January. A District Court order in May expanded the suit to include all inmates of the jail.
The lawsuit claims cramped living conditions have led to an unsafe environment for Inmates and workers, violating their constitutional rights.
That trial is set for April.
Chronicle Tribune 11-13-2007
New software to track jail trends
Program will give county workers options
By Andrea Hirsch
The Grant County Jail updated their computer software last month and will help with jail overcrowding, said Pat Cline, the county's system administrator.
"The new program will have more accurate information, is faster and easier to translate and, hopefully, will cut out a lot of confusion the old system had," Cline said.
The new program, Jail Maintenance, is the most up-to-date version available from Catrell Consulting, a software company out of Lexington, Ky.
Cline said Jail Maintenance currently has been loaded into the jail's system but is still in the implementation phase.
Sheriff Darrell Himelick said the old program, Cisco, was an 18-year-old program with many problems.
"The new program is user-friendly and will be able to tell an awful lot of information, Including the tracking of all behavioral problems for all police agencies," he said.
The Web-based program also allows officers to ask more questions about the detainee before taking them into custody, such as their health and medical information and any statistics Jailers might need to know, such as how many inmates are missing a hand, he said. Himelick said he is not sure if the program will be open to the public because there is information in the system that is not publicly available, such as Social Security numbers. In the next week or two, officials will be working to switch the software at the Grant County Courthouse, Criminal Justice Center and police agencies, he said.
Prosecutor James Luttrull Jr. said the new program will have a lot of information and will be more accessible to staff getting documents prepared.
"The program will be a great thing the courts will have because we will be able to get information without taking up time from people working in the jail," Luttrull aid. "We will be able to understand information in terms of overcrowding or delays and other information quickly, prepare cases and be able to have information handy."
He said he hopes the new system will allow them to know when a new case comes in immediately.
“I am looking forward to learning about the new system,” Luttrell Said.
Chronicle-Tribune 11-27-2007
Challenges shift for jail officials
Intoxicated or high inmates present varied problems in booking
By AJ Colley
As a lawsuit works its way through federal court in Fort Wayne alleging impropert treatment of a former Grant County Jail inmate, Sheriff Darrell Himelick provided some insight on how inmates are processed and what jail officers can do if inmates misbehave.
The first part isn’t too different from what people see on television – the person is allowed to make a phone call to bond out.
But if they can’t bond out, jail staff begin processing the inmate. They screen the inmate by making obversations that are entered into a computer system and asking the inmate questions, including questions about the person’s mental state and use of drugs or alcohol.
After the screening, inmate are put in one of a variety of places in the jail.
“It’s a little tougher here when you get the numbers up to put people where you need them,” Himelick said.
There are several hurdles when working with inmates in Grant County, the sheriff said. One is the growing number of intoxicated inmates.
“This day and age, you’ve got the intoxicated ones, (and) you’ve got the ones taking all kinds of different drugs,” he said. “Things are changing.”
Among those changes is an increase in people abusing prescription durgs, and how the jail deals with people arrested while intoxicated. More inmates are taken to the hospital than in the past, the sheriff said. And the medical bills are piling up.
“It’s an expensive deal,” Himelick said.
He’s already spent more than $250,000 on medical bills for inmates, and he needs to ask for $20,000 more, he said.
The jail does have a padded cell, but the rest are concrete and steel- another hurdle for jail staff, along with controlling fights among inmates.
“It’s just something we have to work at all the time, trying to keep the fights down,” Himelick said. “Just think about if you had 36 brothers living in the same house. Somebody’s not going to get along.”
Because of the danger for inmates and staff, Jail officers who go through 40 hours of jail school can be armed with what Himelick called non-lethal weapons. But, he said, they aren't often used.
The non-lethal weapons Include a pepper ball gun, a stun gun and a flash bang. The stun gun and flash bang have both been used only once, Himelick said.
The pepper ball gun the jail uses generally shoots water balls, but officers don't often have to fire and, if they do, usually shoot the walls instead.
"For the most part we don't have to use it that much, because they know we have it," Himelick said. The weapons are more of a deterrent without being used, he added.
Without them, Himelick said, people are injured by running into the steel and cement within the jail.
"It's gets to be dangerous, at times, for the staff here," he said. "You wind up with inmates getting hurt, too,
Chronicle-Tribune 11-27-2007
Jail under capacity
Sheriff says officers, courts work to move inmates through system
BY AJ COLLEY
After a summer filled to more than capacity and a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union charging overcrowding, the Grant County Jail has been under capacity in recent days.
Monday night, 252 inmates were being housed in the facility, which is 22 inmates under capacity. As recently as Aug. 5, 311 inmates were being held at the jail.
Sheriff Darrell Himelick attributed the drop to the weather and the criminal justice system working inmates through the system more quickly.
"We're always down during the cold weather," Himelick said.
Although he said people think jail populations rise in the cold because people want a warm place to sleep, he said those days for Grant County passed long ago. The jail count was down before the cold weather hit, though, Himelick said.
"Even during peak times during the summer we were down 50 or 60 from last year," he said. But Himelick is also quick to point out that lowering the jail population doesn't mean being "I want the best of both worlds," he said. "I want the jail cleared out and the criminals off the
Getting to that point has required collaboration between officers, the jail, judges and the prosecutor, Himelick said. Without getting inmates through the courts quickly, he said, overcrowding is inevitable.
"We're running about 4,000 (Inmates) through there a year, so when something gets held up in the process, there's no way to stay away from overcrowding," he said.
Grant County Prosecutor James Luttrull Jr. agreed.
"Nothing happens in the system without some degree of interaction, if not cooperation, between a number of entities," he said.
Luttrull said his office has made an effort to focus on cases in which offenders are in jail and to try to move them through the courts as fast as possible. Then, those inmates move on to the Indiana Department of Corrections for placement, are put on probation or are sent back to the Grant County Jail.
"It's been our hope to try to move cases along as quickly as possible," Luttrull said. "We believe that's in the community's best interest and the victim's best interest."
But bringing down the inmate population has been a long process, the prosecutor said, "This didn't happen overnight."
Luttrull said it has been a process of 12 to 18 months.
Chronicle Tribune 12-4-2007
Leaders to consider courthouse plans today Commissioners say they want public's input
BY MARIBETH HOLTZ
More plans for the future of Grant County's historic courthouse and a potential new county building will be discussed today by county commissioners.
Mark Bardsley, president of the commissioners, said the commissioners will look at what they hope will be plans for the new building and renovations to the historic building.
Bardsley said he hopes commissioners will make an official recommendation on plans drawn up by Indianapolis-based architect American StructurePoint; then it's up to the Grant County Council to decide on funding, which would include bonding and public hearings.
Today's commissioners' meeting is at 2 p.m. in the Willis Van Devanter Grant County Office Complex, 401 S. Adams St.
There was a special joint session in August that had both commissioners and the council discussing courthouse plans. Of three plans, the council wanted commissioners to gather more information on the option that would renovate the historic courthouse and build a multi-story complex near the current county complex.
Since then, the architect company developed more plans and commissioners met with them in executive sessions on security issues.
In August, the estimated cost for the project was between $4.75 million and $6.25 million. Bardsley said among the things to be discussed today is the projected cost.
Commissioner David Glickfield said besides today's commissioners' meeting and the upcoming Grant County Council meeting, both of which are open to the public, there also will likely be two public hearings about courthouse plans before bonding goes through.
He hopes more people from the public weigh in on the issue.
"It's time to take public input now into consideration ..." Glickfield said. "We're ready to do that, and we're ready for that now."
He said the county is still in the preliminary stage of the project. Still to come are construction plans and bids, and then approval of final plans before the construction begins.
Bardsley said still to be determined is which county offices would move where. Right now, plans are for the prosecutor's office to be moved to the Van Devanter complex, courts and judges to be moved to the new building, which would be called the criminal justice center, and then several offices to be moved from the Van Devanter complex to the historic courthouse.
All commissioners said there is still potential that a dome could be restored to the courthouse. Glickfield said there may be a donor that would give a significant amount to a dome project; he said it's not likely that the dome would come out of taxpayers' money, but rather the money would be donated by the community.
Both Bardsley and Commissioner Jeremy Diller said they hope to keep a historic value to the current courthouse. Diller said he envisions renovation to include refurbishment, but also the rooms will be made into "usable space," allowing for offices.
"As much as possible, we're trying to draw from historic documents, pictures. It's just a matter of how close we can get it from what we know in the concept and style of the day," Bardsley said.
Chronicle Tribune 1-10-2008
Four officers to be added to jail staff
Move will bring county into compliance with state standards
BY MARIBETH HOLTZ
The Grant County Jail will receive four new officers this year.
The decision, made by the Grant County Council on Wednesday, was made in effort to help settle the pending lawsuit against the county regarding jail overcrowding, said Mike Scott, council president.
Scott said it also will improve working conditions for officers currently at the jail.
Sheriff Darrell Himelick said the added help will make for a total of 43 officers at the jail, which is up to state standards. He said the sheriff's department has been asking the council for more officers at the jail off and on for 15 years.
"It's a state minimum," Himelick said afterward. "We've been told we were understaffed four people for several years for the size of jail it is."
He said there's no guarantee the move will help settle the ACLU-filed lawsuit against the jail for inmate overcrowding.
"It's a good faith act on our part... to settle this and work it out without further court litigation, and that's what we're working toward," Himelick said.
The officers each will have a salary of $27,234; with benefits, the total cost to the county for the officers would be about $172,600 a year.
Scott said it's county protocol that department heads ask the council for approval of new positions. He said the department already has the money for the positions for 2008, and if more money is needed for the department's salary fund, Himelick will come to the council later to ask for an additional appropriation.
Scott added that now is the time to approve the positions because the county is beginning to get out of its "dark financial time."
Chronicle Tribune 1-13-2008
Financing to determine which plan goes forward Councilman: Security issues not discussed
BY MARIBETH HOLTZ
mholtz@chronicle-tribune.com
Building security seems to be a sticking point in whether county officials will go forward with plans to renovate the historic courthouse and build a new courts building.
"We've done an awful lot for a long time with what little we were able to work with," Grant County Sheriff Darrell Himelick said.
While Himelick considers the historic courthouse to be nearly as secure as it can be, there are some structural issues that perhaps only a new building could solve.
Plans recommended by commissioners call for the renovation of the historic courthouse, which would cost $2.25 million, and the construction of a new building to house courts and the clerk's office, which would cost $6.25 million. With an extra $1 million for costs such as engineering fees, the total package comes to a total of about $10 million.
Whether plans will go forward depends now on whether the Grant County Council decides to finance them. The council met Monday with commissioners and members of the public many of which said the courthouse is secure enough and asked the council to not spend more tax dollars on a new building. The council will meet Tuesday in an executive session, which is closed to the public, to discuss courthouse security.
Several council members said they cannot discuss core issues of security in the public because it could lead to more security problems.
"If you're a banker, you don't ever want to tell somebody how to come and rob your bank, do you?" Councilman Larry Wilson said.
"There are some security issues that are not being brought out into the open because of security concerns ... that are probably more severe and worrisome than the issues that were addressed," Councilman Dan Brock said.
Current security issues
Some incidents revealing security problems that were brought up, however, include narcotics stashed in a courthouse elevator used for inmates, and one recent incident where an inmate escaped while walking back to the juvenile detention center.
According to a court document, Ray Knight escaped from a sheriff's deputy Dec. 12 while being taken back from an initial hearing on adult charges of armed robbery and carjacking. Knight, 17, ran to Fifth and Boots streets, where he was detained by Sheriff's Lt. Tim Holtzleiter. Knight was later charged on escape and resisting law enforcement charges. Sheriff Himelick said this week that the escape was partially the fault of the sheriff's department, because Knight had no shackles, which is the equipment that ties inmates feet so they can only walk. He said it's protocol that each inmate is shackled and wearing a belly chain, which ties their hands to their front. In this case, he said corners were cut because of the icy weather outside, so the inmate was not shackled.
Himelick said as far as drugs in the public elevator, law enforcement checks the elevator regularly. He said any time inmates are taken out of the facility, there's a risk of contraband being hidden somewhere for them.
A crackdown of security on the courthouse came in the late 1990s, after a homicide/suicide shooting happened on the courthouse grounds. He said through the years previous to the crackdown, there had been several guns pass through the courthouse.
Today, a metal detector and law enforcement are at the entrance to the courthouse. Himelick said there are anywhere between two and 20 officers guarding the courthouse on any given day; it's dependent upon what cases are being tried. He said there is also a duress alarm system throughout the building, plus safes. The windows of the courthouse are bolted.
List of standards
Still, there are some areas where the courthouse may not be as secure as it could be, Himelick said.
A proposed list of minimum standards for all Indiana courthouses may be passed in the near future by the Indiana Supreme Court, said County Clerk Mark Florence,
The standards include a list of standards all current courthouses need to meet, plus several items that contribute to security in any new buildings.
Florence said whether the court will pass the guidelines seems to depend on whether they can secure money for county courthouses to become compliant.
"The (Supreme) Court does not want to give counties another unfunded mandate," Florence said.
In the meantime, Commissioner Mark Bardsley said Grant County may not be meeting security standards for current courthouses.
He said the standards are probably met 99-percent of the time, but one of the standards separating public from private work areas is met by only one office.
Bardsley said that in addition to layout of building, it also worries him that inmates are being transported on public streets to and from the courthouse. He said the Knight instance shows the danger for downtown Marion.
"We cannot jeopardize the public that way," Bardsley said.
The list of standards for a new building, which includes a secure area for prisoners to enter and leave, would be met with the proposed construction, Bardsley said.
When it comes to public comments that would limit the number of inmates walking to and from the courthouse, both Bardsley and Himelick said they're not sure to what extent those can be done. One, to drive inmates back and forth, is already being done sometimes, Himelick said. Even if that's done more, Himelick said there's still a safety risk any time an inmate leaves jail.
Another suggestion is to use television more in court proceedings. That way, the inmate would stay in jail sometimes while viewed in the courthouse during proceeding. Circuit Court Judge Mark Spitzer said that may be able to be done, but only for the initial hearing. Legally, all other hearings must be done in person.
The proposed justice building would include an underground tunnel from the jail, plus private elevators for the inmates and private walkways and rooms for the jurors and judges. Himelick said there's no way that an underground tunnel could be built to the historic courthouse, because it would go under a state highway and the county wouldn't be able to get permission to build it.
Other possibilities?
The project remains in the hands of the Grant County Council, who will decide whether to fund it. Several council members have said that they're on the fence, while others have different ideas for the historic courthouse.
Councilman John Lawson, a former county sheriff, said he thinks it's a multi-million dollar mistake to try to restore the historic building.
"I think it's terribly inadequate," Lawson said in regard to the security of the historic courthouse.
He said the more the county justice system is divided into several buildings, the more security issues will arise. Lawson said the best way to solve security issues is to build from the ground up a new building, large enough to meet the county's space needs.
He said the county should learn from the "sick building syndrome" of the former Sears building now the Willis Van Devanter Grant County Office Complex - that fixing old buildings leads to more maintenance problems and more money.
Lawson said the historic courthouse could be taken over by a historical society. Before the council decides on the $10 million proposed projects, Lawson said all of the other possibilities need to be explored.
Councilman Tim Enyeart said he believes additional space is needed, particularly for the prosecutor's office. He said he doesn't think security needs at the courthouse justify a new building.
"Sure, a tunnel would be nice, but I don't consider that critical," Enyeart said.
He doesn't agree with where the new building is proposed to be placed, and thinks that it'd be good to study the cost of building onto the current courthouse.
"This is an important decision and this is going to cost taxpayers over a long time," Enyeart said. "We need to make sure we do it properly."
For Wilson, who served for 23 years on the county sheriff's department, there are several pressing security concerns. He also said the current courthouse is in disrepair and the county has waited too long to do something about it.
"At this point, I would prefer to see the courthouse repaired and not do that in conjunction with anything new because if there's a remonstrance, if there's a problem it's going to push those repairs (back) down the road," Wilson said. "I don't want to rush into something, but I do think we need to get our current courthouse fixed."
Chronicle Tribune 8-3-2008
Inmate count under control for now
People moving through justice system faster
By Mishele Wright
The population at the Grant County Jail is the lowest it has been for more than five years, and officials credit the decreasing number of inmates to better communication between law enforcement, judges and prosecutors.
While members of law enforcement and the criminal justice system have always talked to one another, Grant County Sheriff Darrell Himelick said everyone has been talking more and working on issues that need to be corrected, such as the overcrowding at the jail. The result has been moving defendants who are incarcerated through the criminal justice system faster and therefore moving them out of the jail to reduce crowding. Himelick said it's taken more than a year to change things around, but things are looking positive.
"There aren't any less coming in,” Himelick said of the number of inmates. “The whole system is bogged down with too many cases. It took us a while to get caught up, but we've come a long way."
Grant County Prosecutor Jim Luttrull said he feels as if his office is certainly doing its part to help keep the jail population down. The prosecutors are focusing their attention on the defendants who are incarcerated and giving those cases priority over others. He said getting a case through as fast as possible saves time in the long run.
"We're always ready to move cases because there are always new ones waiting,” Luttrull said. "Cases need to move even faster, in my opinion. When there's a delay, it's harder to find witnesses. We spend a lot of time on older cases (trying to track people down).”
Luttrull said the judges also are working hard and have modified the bond system, mainly because of the jail situation. In the past, a person's bail was applied by the judge whenever a person was arrested without a warrant. Now, the bond is set unless a judge asks to change it. For example, Luttrull said if a person is arrested on five Class C felonies, in the past they would have to pay five times the bond for a Class C felony. Now, the defendant only has to pay the cost of one Class C felony, even though they have five charges. A judge may ask to increase the bond if he feels the defendant is a threat to society.
When a person is arrested, police officers are to get inform prosecutors about any potential risk the defendant poses. Then, the prosecutor will present testimony to the judge right away, asking for a higher bond to be issued.
Luttrull agrees with Himelick that law enforcement officials, prosecutors and judges have been communicating better as a result of the jail situation.
“It is one positive outcome of what was a negative situation,” he said. The lawsuit
A lawsuit that sparked changes at the jail was supposed to have been settled last week. The suit was filed by the Indiana Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union against the county in January 2007 in U.S. District Court, Fort Wayne. The suit was filed on behalf of inmate Richarh Tyson but was later turned into a class-action suit on behalf of other inmates at the jail.
According to the lawsuit, the jail was understaffed and the large population was leading to fights and decreased food rations.
Himelick said settlement documents had been drawn up, but he hadn't heard if they were agreed upon and made official. Kenneth J. Falk, attorney for the ACLU, did not return calls. According to the proposed settlement documents Himelick provided, the county does not admit to any wrongdoing. The jail would agree to take action, however, if the jail count exceeds 274 for more than 24 hours or on more than three occasions in one week. According to the documents, the county would take specific actions that include possibly transferring inmates to other jail facilities. The county also would agree not to accept prisoners from other counties, according to the documents.
The agreement would remain in effect until Dec. 31, 2012, when it would be dismissed. Until then, the case would remain inactive, unless problems arise.
Moving in the right direction
One issue mentioned in the lawsuit the jail being understaffed has been addressed this year. In January, Himelick received four new officers. The jail now has 43 officers, which is up to state standards. Himelick said the jail had been understaffed and working to get up to par since the early 90s. Because the county didn't have money to pay for more staff members, the jail never got them.
The new officers have helped the jail with processing inmates when enter or leave.
“There's plenty of work for them to do,” Himelick said. “It takes a lot of people to process when 30 people are coming in and out of the jail each day.”
Capt. Mike Ross said the additional jail staff has helped, especially with shift coverage and getting done what needs to be done. While there were many things to discuss regarding the lawsuit, he said staffing was a major concern, and that problem has been fixed.
The problems with fights and decreased food rations has somewhat been solved, Himelick said.
“There's been a big difference in food and medical costs now that the population is down,” he said.
Though fights have decreased, Himelick said disturbances are inevitable in a jail.
"It was a mess at 380,” he said. “I can't run this facility with 380 inmates. But there's always going to be fights at a jail. (The population decrease) helps out a lot, but we still have fights in the jail. That's not going to change.”
The decreased number of people in the jail also gave officials a chance to clean and paint the jail. Himelick said the second and third floors were painted for the first time since the '80s. The building was thoroughly cleaned for the first time since inmates were allowed to smoke inside the jail.
Himelick said he hopes to continue repairs in the building. The number of inmates that come into the jail, though, is unpredictable.
"I could be back up to 390 tomorrow,” he said. “We're not going to stop arresting people to keep the count down. We can't stop doing what we're supposed to be doing on the streets. We just have to deal with it.
"We're always trying to do something to alleviate the overcrowding,” he continued said. “The bottom line is it's jail. It's not that nice. It's not mom's cooking. I hope they don't like it and they don't come back.”
Luttrull said he hopes the level of crime will decrease, so pressure will be alleviated on the entire system. Until then, officials will continue what they've been doing, he said. Luttrull appreciates the respect that everyone the sheriff, police chief, prosecutors, judges and public defenders has for one another and their job in the community.
"People need to know that not every community works that way,” he said. By the numbers:
Here's a look at the average population count at the Grant County Jail each July from 2002 to 2008. The capacity of the jail is 274.
®
July 2002: 269
July 2003: 292
July 2004: 323
* July 2005: 311
* July 2006: 315
July 2007: 305
* July 2008: 246
Source: Grant County Sheriff's Department
Chronicle Tribune 8-28-2013
Grant County jail saving money
By Karla Bowsher
County Community Corrections saved more than $1 million over the past year in part by continuing to decrease the number of days people spent in jail.
Incarceration days decreased by 22,5000 during the past year, as Executive Director Chris Cunningham told the Grant County Board of Commissioners at their meeting Tuesday. He shared highlights from the division's 2012-13 annual report before the commissioners voted to authorize him to submit the report to the state per state law.
Community Corrections, a division of County Correctional Services, received $841,000 in state grants and $79,000 per year in local grants during that time period, Cunningham said. The division's total annual budget is about $1.1 million. It is funded by grants and offender fees intended to offset costs, such as a $10 per day fee for GPS monitoring.
The division started using GPS units to monitor offenders about two years ago and has since seen incarceration days decrease, Cunningham said. The number of units has also increased from about 50 to 70, contributing to the decrease in incarceration days.
Other factors contributing to the decrease include early screening, he said, because it allows staff to more quickly identify offenders who are more appropriately placed in drug court, for example, than in jail.
The past year was also the third that Grant County was among seven counties selected nationally for funding through a National Institute of Corrections program called Evidence-Based Decision- Making in Local Criminal Justice Systems. The program funds consulting and other contractual services.
Chronicle Tribune 8-13-2016
Restoring lives to the community
By Amy Smelser
It is as if the jail has revolving doors.
Even though the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that more than 64 percent of jail inmates suffer from some form of mental illness or addictions problem, the jail system is neither funded nor equipped to treat those inmates.
So those returned to the streets wind up doing the things that put them in jail the first time. They go back behind bars recidivism.
The National Association of Counties found that 73 percent of county jails focus on reducing the number of inmates with mental illness.
Many struggle with some kind of addiction. Drugs or alcohol mask the symptoms of the mental illness, which can cause the individual to commit crimes to support the addiction, Grant County Sheriff Reggie Nevels said.
The problem is a community problem. Nevels said the Grant County Jail needs help from the community to address the issues.
“Our goal is to try to get an in-house treatment program started,” he said. Funding and space are two hurdles we need to overcome.
When a criminal is processed and placed into a jail or prison, if he or she was eligible for Medicaid, the services are dropped. This creates a gap in treatment after an inmate has served his or her time, Kokomo attorney and mental health activist Mark Hurt said.
Funds for forensic treatment, which includes therapy, case management, detoxification and medication support are needed, he said, to reduce recidivism.
That treatment, if available in the jail, Nevels said, must continue once the inmate is released or recidivism will not decrease.
President and CEO of Cornerstone Behavioral Health Paul Kuzcora said overcoming addictions requires addressing more than just the physical need for drugs or alcohol. Recently released inmates often have no safe place to live while transitioning back into society and subsequently resume their old habits.
“We're having a bit of a problem in our nation figuring out who pays for housing,” he said.
But the complexity of figuring out Medicaid and private insurance prevents some people from even inquiring how to sign up or how to resume their previous coverage, he said.
Chris Cunningham, Grant County's executive director of Community Corrections, said the county is applying for a grant through the Family and Social Services Administration that would pay for a program called Recovery Works, designed to help inmates obtain mental health and addictions services.
He said Recovery Works fills health care gaps left by Medicaid or HIP 2.0. The program was recently expanded to help inmates receive care within 90 days of their release.
“The program gets necessary treatment instituted as soon as possible,” Cunningham said. “Unfortunately, there's not an individual whose job is solely to do this.”
The grant application is due Sept. 23, and he said it could be up to 90 days before the county finds out if the grant has been awarded. If Grant County does not receive the funds, Cunningham said the county's current financial situation does not allow for such services.
In the meantime, Nevels said that reducing the recidivism rate and helping repeat offenders overcome addictions can't happen without more community involvement.
"It's a stronghold on entire families,' he said. “A lot of them know they need help and want help.” Cunningham said that several local charities offer food and housing to released inmates. Churches within the community have also helped, but most depend on donations and volunteers and more can be done, he said.
"The community and employers need to be willing to look at (these) individuals as being eligible for employment,” Cunningham said.
Chronicle Tribune 2-26-2017
County tackles jail overcrowding
BY Navar Watson
The Grant County Jail inmate population is once again surpassing capacity nearly every day.
The average daily jail count in 2016 was 271, a 9 percent raise from 249 in 2015, Judge Mark Spitzer said in his 2017 State of the Judiciary, which cited jail overpopulation as one of the major stressors Grant County courts deal with today.
“It's as bad as it's been in a significant period of time," Spitzer said.
The effects of House Enrolled Act 1006, which took effect January 2016, helped contribute to the increased number of inmates, Spitzer said. The act declared a court may not commit a person convicted of a Level 6 felony to the Indiana Department of Correction, except under certain circumstances.
Spitzer estimated Grant County will see about 100 additional felons every year because of this act.
The jail count was 285 on Feb. 14, the day before Spitzer gave his State of the Judiciary address to the Grant County Council. He explained that the jail count Feb. 17, 2016, the date of last year's address, was 244.
In December, Sheriff Reggie Nevels requested that $15,000 from the overtime account be transferred to the meal account because the jail was running low on meals for inmates due to the increase in inmate population.
Another factor, Spitzer believes, is the heroin crisis in Grant County. The jail's annual report documents a 65 percent increase in bookings for possession of a syringe, a Level 6 felony, from 2015 to 2016.
Capt. Todd Fleece of the Grant County Sheriff Department, however, said the jail hasn't had to bring out cots for inmates to sleep on yet.
"We're not at a critical stage," Fleece said. “We've really been able to manage the population."
He said the courts, the prosecutor's office and the sheriff department have been working well together to identify any patterns and potential solutions.
Spitzer said the county has made progress in finding alternatives to incarceration for certain individuals. More people, for example, were placed on home detention in 2016 than in 2015, according to Spitzer.
He also noted various strategies the courts are working on currently to address the problem.
For example, Judge Dana Kenworthy and the Family Dependency Treatment Court recently received a three-year grant for $399,151, Spitzer said, which could help increase court capacity, provide an additional Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and establish a Recovery Support Specialists Program.
The county's Community Corrections program also received additional funding to implement a prosecutor's diversion program, geared toward finding incarceration alternatives for Level 6 felonies; a jail treatment program, partnering with Grant Blackford Mental Health to treat inmates; and a jail reentry program, helping inmates leaving the jail with housing, health treatment and other issues.
Furthermore, the State has selected the Grant County Jail as a pilot site for the Recovery Works program, Spitzer said, which would provide resources and treatment for inmates within 90 days of release from incarceration, easing their transition to the community. None of these efforts, however, may single-handedly fix the problem of overcapacity. "There's not going to be one magic bullet to this thing," Spitzer said. “It's going to have to be a coordinated set of strategies."
This is not the first time county entities have tried to tackle jail overcrowding.
In January 2007, the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sued the county for not taking significant steps in bringing down the population of the jail. According to Chronicle-Tribune archives, the jail count was 319 inmates Jan. 22. The capacity was still 274.
Shortly after, county officials discussed moving inmates to an overflow facility off Garthwaite Road in the jail count became too high, but that never came to pass. “Where we are now is not like where we were in 2005,” Fleece clarified.
The lawsuit did, however, prompt the county to make several positive changes to treat jail overpopulation, Spitzer said, and he thinks the county can do it again.
“We've done it in the past, and we found ways to address it," Spitzer said. “Hopefully we can take a similar approach and address it again this go around.”
Chronicle Tribune 4-29-2017
Jail sees hope in treatment program
BY Navar Watson
Inmates can now receive in-house treatment for substance abuse and addiction while serving time in the Grant County jail.
The jail treatment program, created in partnership with Grant County Community Corrections and Milestone Addiction Services through the help of grant funding, has been a goal of Sheriff Reggie Nevels since he took office in 2015.
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"The old days when you lock them up and throw away the key are gone,' Nevels said. Funding became available after the implementation of House Enrolled Act 1006 in January 2016, "the largest criminal code reform in 40 years,” according to Cindy McCoy, director of correctional services, which barred courts from sending Level 6 felons to the Indiana Department of Correction (DOC), except under special circumstances.
Level 6 felons, typically arrested on drug-related charges, were then left to stay in local jails, causing massive overcrowding issues for several Indiana counties, including the Grant County Jail.
55
"The legislature recognized that if they're going to have this criminal code reform, McCoy said, “(then) they would have to provide funding to the counties to help manage that overcrowding."
The Grant County Jail, for example, saw an average daily jail count of 271 in 2016, up 9 percent from 2015 and only three spots away from capacity. In the past few weeks, the jail capacity has topped more than 300 a few days a week, especially on the weekends. Grant money from the DOC then helped Grant County officials to establish the jail treatment program, which can provide treatment for up to about 40 inmates at a time two groups of 10 males and two groups of 10 females.
The males partake in the 12-step Moral Recognition Therapy (MRT) program, and females partake in a similar program called Seeking Safety. About six males and six females are engaged in each program so far, said Dennis Allen, addictions program therapist at Milestone.
"The guys in the jail group in MRT are really focused," he said. “They're just doing a great job.”
The six men stay in a dorm-like setting, Jail Commander Lt. Kevin Carmichael said, with a microwave and more television privilege.
“We've tried to do that as a benefit to them and to show them that because they're in this program, and we're wanting to help them, they get a little bit more freedom,” he said. Allen said the dorm-like situations have been beneficial, as the programs are designed for group members to help each other. The duration of the program varies from person to person, he said. Each step can be accomplished in about a week, but he estimated the full program would take 20-26 weeks for the average person to complete.
Since MRT and Seeking Safety are offered to the community as well, an inmate can continue treatment upon release from the jail.
Milestone has partnered with the Grant County Drug Court and veterans treatment court for years, so partnering with Milestone for the jail treatment program was ideal, McCoy said. "We wanted (the inmates) to be able to start here, hopefully finish here, but if they couldn't finish here, they could transition into those services in the community,” she said. DOC funding remains pretty reliable, McCoy said, allowing the jail to sustain the program. The jail is required to send data to the state, which will determine in a few years how successful the program is in treating inmates and consequently deterring them from reentering the jail on drug-related charges.
In addition to the jail treatment program, the Grant County Sheriff Department and other community partners have established the court recidivism reduction program, which helps connect felons to treatment and supervision immediately after their release from jail. The objective, according to Community Corrections Executive Director Chris Cunningham, is to make sure felons have a plan in place when they leave. Furthermore, Grant County became one of about a dozen counties in the state to be approved for an expansion of Recovery Works eligibility. Recovery Works, Indiana's forensic treatment program, provides mental health and recovery support services to felons without insurance coverage. The expansion will allow inmates to receive care within 90 days of their release, rather than 30.
For now, however, most of the focus is on the jail treatment program, Cunningham said, due to the prevalence of drug addiction in Grant County. About 36 percent of people coming into the jail last year self reported an addiction problem, but the number of inmates actually suffering from addiction is likely much higher.
The jail treatment program has an initial goal of treating 50 felons in jail this year, which it will probably exceed, Cunningham said.
“We wish we can put all 285 (inmates) in the program,” added Nevels. “(But) even if we help one, that's a number. That's a whole family. We're fighting this war, and we're picking our battles. We want to keep winning, and we want to be successful.”
Chronicle Tribune 5-18-2017
Jail fix pegged at up to $7 million
BY Tyler Juranovich
Grant County Jail is in need of significant repair and renovations, according to the Grant County Sheriff's Department.
Members of the Sheriff's Department, County Commissioners and representatives from Indianapolis-based energy company Ameresco presented a project proposal to the County Council at the council's regular meeting Wednesday detailing major renovations to the county jail and courthouse totaling between $6.5 million to $7 million.
The proposal calls for the purchase of a new natural gas powered generator, new jail door locks and controls and widening of some jail doors, new plumbing in the jail, new touchscreen control centers for jail blocks, new jail cell intercoms, a better central command area, improvements to jail windows, doors and insulation to reduce moisture intrusion, new LED lighting in the Courthouse's interior and exterior and more.
The need for the renovations, at least for the jail, is extremely high, Sheriff Reggie Nevels said, as the current county jail is plagued with safety and security issues.
Some of those issues include plumbing pipes that crack if touched, a generator that is not currently in compliance regulations, cell doors that sometimes do not open when prompted, leaving inmates trapped in their cells and cell doors that are too small for medical personnel and equipment to squeeze through to attend to a injured inmate.
“The jail is falling apart,” Nevels said. “This is a need, not a want. I wouldn't be here if this wasn't a need."
to
Nevels said many of the issues concerning the jail stem from its age. The current jail was finished more than 30 years ago in 1980, with additional floors added in 1990. The building's pipes, generator and many other aspects are all original and either have begun to deteriorate, malfunction or both the point that jail employees don't lock some doors because they've stopped working. Because of how old the pipes are, sewage regularly seeps in through the ceilings and floors in the jail and into employee offices.
“The smell of sewage is so strong sometimes it's overwhelming,” Captain Todd Fleece of Sheriff's Department said.
Financial options to pay for the renovations and improvements are not formally being proposed to the council but potential options brought forth by Ameresco either have the county refinancing existing debt with the new bond into one single bond or issuing a new bond with low payments initially until past debt is paid, and then the payments would be increased on the new loan. The idea behind both options is to keep the increase in the county's annual debt service costs to a minimum.
Sheriff's Department officials said constructing a new jail would cost $80 million to $100 million, a figure considered too costly for the county.
Chronicle Tribune 7-20-2017
Jail project gains support
BY Tyler Juranovich
A major renovation to the Grant County Jail seems likely to happen, though how much the county is going to pay and how it will be financed is still up for debate.
Most Grant County Council members at their regular meeting Wednesday night expressed
a desire to renovate the county jail and the courthouse. How much work will be done is still undecided, but that is expected to change in the coming weeks to a month.
The maximum cost of the proposed renovations to the jail and courthouse has also increased.
Garyne Evans, director of development engineer for the Indianapolis-based energy company Ameresco, told the council the maximum cost for renovation has increased to $7.8 million, up from $7 million when the company addressed the council in May. Evans told the Chronicle-Tribune that the increase came from recalculating costs in the project. Proposed renovation includes purchase of a new natural gas powered generator for the jail, new jail door locks and controls and widening of some jail doors. The project also includes new plumbing, new touchscreen control centers for jail blocks, new jail cell intercoms, an improved central command area and upgrades to jail windows, doors and insulation to reduce moisture intrusion. It also includes new LED lighting at the courthouse, HVAC work at courthouse and more.
The need for the renovations, at least for the jail, is extremely high, Grant County Sheriff Reggie Nevels has argued, as the current county jail is plagued with safety and security issues, including leaking pipes, water infiltration issues from windows, a generator that is not in compliance and jail doors that sometimes do not open when prompted.
The council could choose not to do the renovations, but members Wednesday were supportive of the project.
"It's so clear we need to do this,” Councilman Mike Roorbach, R-At-Large, said. “The Sheriff has made it clear, and I think the public wants to see this jail fixed.” Councilman Mike Scott, R-District 1, said he was supportive of the renovations because it might cost the county more down the road if they wait due to maintenance issues, “We need to maintain our buildings,” Scott said. “If we wait we could have to pay $10 million three years from now instead of $7 million now. The fact of the matter is it needs to be done. As long as I've been here, I can't tell you how many times where we go back and look at a project and something wasn't done, completed or done right and now we're looking at an extra $1 million, or whatever it is.”
Local elected officials, Sheriff's Department employees and employees of Ameresco plan to hash out final details and priorities in a committee meeting in August. The final proposal is expected to be presented at the council's Aug. 16 meeting.
The final plan will include a recommendation for how -- by a lease purchase agreement or by a bond issue the county will pay for the project.
If the county chooses to lease purchase, it could get the renovations done quicker, but that benefit could come with a higher interest rate than charged in a standard municipal bond. The potential downside with a bond is, since it would be more than $2 million, the public could garner enough signatures — the lesser of 100 people or five percent of registered voters – and possibly block the project through a remonstrance.
If enough valid signatures are garnered in opposition but the county still wants to push ahead with a bond issue, approval for making the bond issue comes down to a vote among registered voters and real property owners in the county who might not be registered.
Chronicle Tribune 8-8-2017
County weighs expanding building project
BY Tyler Juranovich
There may be more work added to Grant County's nearly $8 million plan to renovate the jail, juvenile detention center and courthouse.
A committee of county council members, commissioners and representatives from the Grant County Sheriff's Department recommended that Ameresco, an Indianapolis-based company, provide the county with the cost of upgrading the D-home's cameras, the center's interior French drain and indoor sump pump and installing new emergency exit door/corridor, in the event the county can secure funding to cover all of the initially proposed renovations to the jail and courthouse. Plans already included purchase of a new natural gas powered generator for the jail, new jail door locks and controls and widening of some jail doors. The project would entail installation of new plumbing, new touchscreen control centers for jail blocks, new jail cell intercoms, an improved central command area and upgrades to jail windows, doors and insulation to reduce moisture intrusion. Also included are new LED lighting at the courthouse, HVAC work at the courthouse and
more.
County elected officials are in agreement that renovations at the jail need to be done sooner rather than later, though questions about how the county is going to pay for the project remain unanswered. Originally pegged at between $6.5 million to $7 million, the project cost was increased to $7.8 million last month after a recalculation of costs.
Despite the increase in cost, most county council members last month said they still approve of the renovations because doing nothing now may cost the county more money in the future.
The need for the renovations, at least for the jail, is supported by Sheriff Reggie Nevels, who has said the jail is plagued with safety and security issues, including jail doors that sometimes don't open when prompted.
Commissioner Mark Bardsley made it clear Monday at the commissioners meeting that he is in support of the project.
“This is what we really need to do to keep these buildings in function," Bardsley said. Commissioner Mike Burton and Commissioner Ron Mowery agreed, and the board approved moving the committee's recommendations to be heard by the county council. Starting Wednesday, the county's lawyer Phil Stephenson, a representative from Indianapolis law firm Ice Miller and Ameresco will begin discussions with financial institutions to determine the best financing options for the city.
In other news, the commissioners approved Marion Design Co. to operate in the old Salin Bank for at least one more year. The group has been working in partner with the City of Marion for the past year, helping the city create a new logo and brand.
Chronicle Tribune 8-25-2017
D-Home might house adults
BY Navar Watson
The Grant County Sheriff Department might be able to solve the jail's overcrowding issue. Following months of overcapacity, Sheriff Reggie Nevels and his team have suggested moving some adult inmates from the Grant County Jail to the rarely-filled juvenile detention center across the parking lot.
"We're exploring our options and seeing if we (can) place our female inmates over at the detention center,” he said. “That'll free up space here.”
The Grant County Jail has a capacity of 274 inmates, which is often exceeded, whereas the Juvenile Detention Center, which can hold 46 juveniles, rarely meets 20 percent capacity. Monday afternoon the jail had 288 inmates, and the detention center had nine.
Jail overcrowding has been a problem for years across the state.
In 2007, the American Civil Liberties Union sued Grant County specifically for not taking significant steps in bringing down the population of the jail when the inmate count topped 300.
“We don't want to be put in that situation again,” Nevels said.
In the process of finding a fix, the sheriff department established a committee of county representatives with whom to brainstorm potential solutions, one of which involved converting the detention center into another adult inmate facility and shipping off juvenile detainees to other counties.
Committee members disliked the idea, Nevels said.
The idea to house female inmates in the detention center came after a representative from the Indiana Department of Correction toured the center and suggested converting it into a dual adult/juvenile facility.
Doing this would require making a few adjustments.
“You have to do it in a way that (the juvenile and adult inmates) are segregated by sight and sound,” said Circuit Court Judge Mark Spitzer. “You have to make a clean division between the two facilities."
Capt. Todd Fleece of the sheriff department said the detention center wouldn't need much work to separate the two populations, other than securing some sort of partition or security apparatus in the restrooms.
“The way the building is designed and laid out is pretty much going to take care of itself,” he said. If the sheriff department moves forward with the plan, however, the center would only be able to house about eight juvenile detainees in addition to the county's female inmates, per recommendation of the IDOC.
This would force the county to either ship additional juveniles to detention centers in other counties or consider releasing one detainee to make room for another.
Though the detention center count often falls below eight, Spitzer said running out of room for juveniles was a concern for county judges.
Chronicle Tribune 10-19-2017
County Council approves jail project financing
BY Tyler Juranovich
The Grant County Council has officially approved the Grant County Jail renovation project.
The Council unanimously passed an ordinance Wednesday declaring that the county intends to sell a general obligation bond worth up to $8.75 million with an interest rate no higher than 6 percent to fund major renovation projects to the jail, county building and courthouse.
Construction plans include purchase of a new natural gas powered generator for the jail, new jail door locks and controls and widening of some jail doors. The project would also entail installation of new plumbing, new touchscreen control centers for jail blocks, new jail cell intercoms, an improved central command area and upgrades to jail windows, doors and insulation to reduce moisture intrusion. Also included are new LED lighting at the courthouse, HVAC work at the courthouse and
more.
The project has been heavily supported by county elected officials, including the Grant County Sheriff Reggie Nevels, County Commissioners and members of the County Council due to the current state of the jail, which is plagued with safety and security issues, including jail doors that sometimes don't open when prompted and corroding plumbing pipes.
“I've sat on a number of boards that have bonded, and it's a very difficult vote because you're taking money from the public for the public good ... and I'm all in favor of this one, I'm voting for this one wholeheartedly,” Councilman Mike Roorbach said. “I think Sheriff Nevels has made the case why we need to do this."
With the ordinance passed, now the County Commissioners will now sell the bond through a bidding process.
A start date for construction has not yet been set. If and when the bond is sold, the county will not start making payments on the bond in 2019. The bond is expected to slightly raise the county's total debt service by about $100,000, Council President Jim McWhirt said Wednesday, which would lead to a slight increase in the amount county residents pay in property taxes.
Also on Wednesday, the council adopted its 2018 budget. The budget includes no raises for any employees except for probation officers and cuts of more than $1.1 million compared to 2017's budget but no cuts to any personnel.
The next County Council budget is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Nov. 15.
Chronicle Tribune 10-28-2017
Jail renovations get green light
BY Tyler Juranovich
Grant County's $8 million jail renovation project is all but a certainty now.
No property owners filed a remonstrance against a bond planned to pay for the renovation, according the county Registration and Auditor's offices. State law allows property owners to potentially delay any project by a year through essentially a referendum if the government body is proposing to sell a bond worth $2 million or more. Friday was the deadline to begin that process for the county's jail renovation.
County officials said they were pleased after hearing no remonstrance was filed. With the largest obstacle out of the way, the project will almost certainly move ahead.
Now, the county will sell a general obligation bond worth up to $8.75 million with an interest rate no higher than six percent through a bidding process sometime in November.
The bond is expected to slightly raise the county's total debt service by about $100,000, County Council President Jim McWhirt said earlier this month, which would lead to a slight increase in the amount county residents pay in property taxes.
The need for a updated jail was worth the cost, county officials have argued.
Grant County Sheriff Reggie Nevels was one of the most vocal proponents of the renovation, a project that has been two years in the making. The Sheriff's Department has warned the county could be sued due the dire conditions in the jail, which includes leaky windows, deteriorating plumbing pipes and jail doors that sometimes don't open when prompted.
"It is something that is needed,” Nevels said. “The jail is completely crumbling and falling apart. I am glad there was no opposition. We're looking forward to get construction going.”
Council members talked to Friday said they were convinced of the need and that approving the project was an easy decision.
“I didn't think there would be opposition,” Councilman Mike Roorbach said. “I think the need is very clear and Reggie is very credible. There's no reason not to believe the sheriff.”
The renovation project includes the purchase of a new natural gas powered generator for the jail, new jail door locks and controls and widening of some jail doors.
It also includes new plumbing, touchscreen control centers for jail blocks, jail cell intercoms and other upgrades to windows, doors and insulation.
The project also includes new LED lighting and HVAC work at the Grant County Courthouse and a creation of a new emergency exit for the county building. The county is hoping construction can begin sometime next year.
Chronicle Tribune 7-10-2018
By Carolyn Muyskens
An $8 million project to renovate parts of the Grant County Jail, the Grant County Complex and the Grant County Juvenile Detention Center has been underway for months at the corner of Adams Street and Third Street.
On Tuesday, workers could be seen working in and around a deep hole outside the juvenile detention center digging a place for a new sump receiver expected to come in next Wednesday.
The sump receiver will help with persistent basement flooding problems the center has been experiencing after heavy rains.
Ameresco project manager Jeff Rabourn said the hole will need to be 20 feet deep to house the sump receiver.
The leaks were due to the fact that the basement walls had only been partially reinforced, on the top half of the basement walls, when repairs were made to the center several years ago.
The lower, unreinforced half has been letting water into the basement, so workers will add a secondary wall for reinforcement, as well as piping that will take groundwater that would otherwise leak into the building to the sump receiver instead.
The county office complex has had similar flooding problems, which were fixed last month by Ameresco contractors.
Workers had to dig dirt out from around the walls and carry it up in buckets to make space for concrete, gravel and a pipe system to bring water to the new sump receiver going in outside the juvenile detention center.
Once the sump receiver is in place and connected to the new piping, it should be able to pump the water several hundred feet down Adams Street through a buried line to the manhole, where it will be directed west into an underground stream.
During this project, one lane of Adams Street will be closed outside the juvenile detention center for about eight weeks. This is expected to begin sometime in the next couple weeks.
A major part of the jail renovation is nearing completion, with 85 percent of the exterior wall work already done, according to Rabourn.
That exterior work included repairing and then repainting the outside walls of the jail and resealing and repainting its aging windows.
"It looks like a brand new building,” Rabourn said.
A new, larger generator was also recently installed in the building, according to Executive Secretary for the County Commissioners T.C. Hull. The old generator had not had the capacity to power the whole jail and office complex.
The final renovations begin in the fall, with plumbing and security upgrades for the jail slated for September. Rabourn said these projects will take more time than usual owing to the logistics of moving inmates in order to do the work. Inmates will most likely need to be moved in groups of 10 to 12, Rabourn said.
The plumbing in the jail cells needs to be replaced since the old pipes are deteriorating, and doors inside the jail will also get security upgrades.
This work is expected to continue through early 2019.
Chronicle Tribune 9-26-2018
Jail inmate population spikes
By Clay Winowiecki
Due to substance abuse, the Grant County Jail's inmate population has spiked leading to multiple problems for the jail.
The Grant County Jail has a capacity of 274, but holds an inmate population that often extends beyond 300. The burden of additional inmates has increased inmate fighting, added additional stress for jail staff and caused a financial hit to the facility, said Grant County Jail Commander Lt. Kevin Carmichael.
The jail currently averages between 20 and 35 inmates over capacity on a daily basis, according to Carmichael.
"The problem has peaked in the last two and a half to three months,” he added.
The cause of these arrests generally involve drug addictions, especially heroin, said Capt. Todd Fleece of the Grant County Sheriff's Department.
Overcrowding leads to a number of issues, Carmichael said. Chief among those are financial blows. More inmates mean more money spent on food and medical expenses. It also leads to more stress for staff members who must keep an eye on more bodies, and inmates, who find themselves in more fights than normal.
In the jail upwards of 65 to 70 inmates are unable to sleep in a tradition cell bed, Carmichael said. Instead, inmates use beds which can be easily moved around to fit the needs of the prison.
The beds are convenient since they can be stacked up when they are not in use to save space. These stackable beds are not only a common solution for the Grant County Jail, but for jails across the nation, Carmichael added.
The Grant County Jail is attempting to decrease recidivism rates in hopes it will bring down the overall jail population. One possible solution is Moral Recognition Therapy for male inmates, which aims to decrease recidivism through increasing moral reasoning, according to Carmichael.
The course focuses on inmates who struggle with drug and alcohol-related abuse. The moral reasoning aspect of the course tries to get inmates to understand how their life choices impact their family and loved ones, Carmichael said.
One aspect of the course, which appealed to jail officials, is that inmates can continue the course through Milestones Addictions Services even after they are released from the jail.
Inmates who take the Moral Recognition Therapy course are housed together in the same cell block in order to keep them separate from inmates who may not be as committed as they are to improving their lives. Seeking Safety is a course offered for female inmates. This program aims to help inmates who have Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder, as well as those who struggle with substance abuse.
“So many women incarcerated have been abused as a daughter or as a wife or a girlfriend,” Carmichael said.
Up to 85 percent of women who are incarcerated in the United States have been the victim of some kind of battery and many of these incidents are related to substance abuse of some kind, he said.
“We've had some people who have rescinded, but we're relatively low in graduation (numbers),” Carmichael said.
Since the program is still new, there is a limited sample size to determine how much of an impact the treatments have made.
Carmichael said he will often make a request for the release of an inmate. Typically, the jail looks for repeat trial offenders who do not have any crime against a person, he said. Once an inmate has been selected for potential release, the jail's commander sends a request to the courts. The courts review each request on a case by case basis before making a decision.
"Those are cases where we just can't use the bedspace," said Judge Warren Haas, who presides over Superior Court III.
Rarely is someone's sentence reduced, though, Haas said. If a sentenced inmate is released, it's within a week of their expected release date, he added.
Some of the most common releases involve crimes such as battery without injury, substance abuse and driving with a suspended license, the judge added.
There are multiple judges who have authority to release an inmate: general jurisdiction judges, the magistrate and even judges in Gas City and Marion share the responsibility, Haas said.
"We're doing the best we can. We are really fortunate that Grant County has been pretty proactive trying to manage everyone in the criminal justice system,” Fleece said.
"It's really going to take the community (to fix the drug problem). I don't think there's a silver bullet to really help turn this around,” he added.
Chronicle Tribune 2-12-2019
Jail upgrades nearing completion
Plenty of change is taking place at the Grant County Jail
By Clay Winowiecki
As of now, the jail is in the middle of renovating outdated software to increase inmate and staff safety. The Grant County Juvenile Detention Center may also be renovated to allow females to be placed in the same building as juveniles, which would ease the issue of overcrowding the jail has experienced in recent years.
Inside the jail, Ameresco, the company tasked with making safety upgrades, has been working since mid-December.
According to Grant County Jail Commander Lt. Kevin Carmichael, the company is nearly finished with the second floor, which includes new controls and an intercom system.
On the second and third floor, eight cell blocks are receiving complete retrofits to be brought up to the same level as systems on the fourth and fifth floors.
The new intercom systems will help to alert officers if there is an emergency.
The jail will also add more software to the fourth and fifth floors, according to Carmichael, with construction possibly completed this spring.
The jail may also become a little less crowded thanks to an effort to move females into the juvenile detention center. Lately, the jail has regularly had between 260 and 270 inmates, which falls just under the jails capacity of 274, according to Carmichael.
However, the jail population did spike a few weeks ago and put the jail well above its capacity and into the 290s. At times over the summer and early fall, the jail exceeded more than 300 inmates.
"We're in the process of receiving quotes to accommodate both the females and the juveniles at the Juvenile Detention Center,” said County Council President Shane Middlesworth.
According to Middlesworth, this will help alleviate the issue of overcrowding in the jail.
The juvenile detention center has capacity for 46 inmates, but rarely exceeds even more than a dozen. As of Tuesday afternoon, there were only two inmates in the detention center.
According to County Council member Mike Roorbach, the council has been in talks with Sheriff Reggie Nevels for around a year about making this transition.
Roorbach said the county has made some money taking in juveniles from other counties but nothing near the cost of operating the detention center.
"The judges have done a great job coming up with alternative hearings and ways to keep the (jail) population down," Roorbach said. But allowing females and juveniles to house in the same building might be a more long term solution.
According to Roorbach, the cost of the transition might be around $50,000.
"The first figure laid out to us was $50,000, which seems like a lot of money, but in government money it doesn't seem like (much) to accomplish this goal," he said.
However, Roorbach said he doesn't know the current cost estimates for the transition.
Should a quote be accepted, the County Council is likely to hold a vote on the matter, Roorbach added.
Chronicle Tribune 7-5-2019
Jail hurting for lack of staff
Jul 05, 2019
BY Samantha Oyler
Grant County Sheriff Reggie Nevels says there is a shortage of jail officers not only in Grant County, but nationwide. Capt. Todd Fleece said the Grant County Jail is currently short 13 correctional officers. That number could change depending on what county officials decide to do about inmate overcrowding and the juvenile detention center. If the county chooses to renovate the detention center to house female inmates, they would need to fill 16 total job openings.
"Three additional positions may not seem like much, but it's a huge hurdle to overcome,” Fleece said.
One major reason for the lack of officers is the low pay.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for correctional officers and jailers was $44,330 as of May 2018.
That number is about $10,000 higher than the average correctional officer salary in the state of Indiana. Capt. Ed Beaty said the Grant County Sheriff's Department is doing all it can to find new applicants, including attending job fairs, corresponding with colleges and universities in the area and trying to get officers more involved in the community.
“We're using every opportunity we have to get our brand out there,” Beaty said.
Beaty said that the department hasn't been fully staffed for at least four years now.
While that issue might be due to trouble recruiting applicants, a majority of those who do apply don't make it through the rigorous testing.
Prospective law enforcement officers can expect to endure a physical test, a written test, a drug screening, a polygraph test and training at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy.
While requirements might differ slightly depending on the position, Nevels said the department will not sacrifice its standards in order to gain more officers.
Beaty said the department invests a lot of resources into training its officers.
With all the training, testing and necessary equipment, the department loses roughly $20,000 every time an officer leaves.
Some officers move on to other agencies that offer higher salaries, which benefits those agencies because they don't have to invest as much for training.
Although the department might lose officers, Chief Deputy Tim Holtzleiter said the jail must have a minimum of six officers present at all times.
Going below that minimum could cause dangerous problems.
Fleece said inmates eventually learn how the jail operates and some try to use these shortages to their advantage. "We're not going to put our officers in jeopardy because of low staff,” Holtzleiter said.
To make up for the loss, the department has to put some officers into overtime, which Fleece said runs the risk of "burning the candle at both ends."
Officials in the department have been trying to make the job more desirable to applicants, but Nevels said they can't compete with places that offer things like incentives for earning a college degree or differential shift wages. For some applicants though, it's not about the money.
"It takes someone with a special heart to do this kind of work and serve their community," Nevels said.
Chronicle Tribune 11-1-2019
Overcrowding persists at county jail
BY Samantha Oyler
It's no secret that the Grant County Jail is often overcrowded. Though the facility routinely houses more than 280 inmates, its official maximum capacity is actually 274. There have been several times the jail count has climbed up to more than 300 inmates. Sheriff Reggie Nevels recalls the jail count once got up to 370 inmates, but he stressed that was years ago.
While this problem is not exclusive to Grant County, it's especially challenging to those who work at the jail. Capt. Todd Fleece said that everyone working there must "stay on their toes.”
The large amount of inmates combined with the shortage of corrections officers makes for some demanding situations.
Nevels said the more inmates there are, the more problems they have, including more altercations and issues among inmates.
He said there is even a “no-mix list” of inmates who are known to have problems with one another and cannot be around each other.
"It's like a little city within a city," Lt. Kevin Carmichael said.
"And everyone wants to be mayor,” Nevels added.
Though finding a suitable place to house every inmate can be difficult, Carmichael said officers have been able to keep all the inmates in appropriate spaces.
It's not unheard of for jails to use additional spaces, like recreation rooms, to hold more inmates, but Carmichael said the Grant County Jail has not needed to use its dạy room to house inmates since 2008. Despite the stress of being over capacity, Carmichael stated that employees try to make the best of the situation.
The safety of both inmates and employees is a top priority, requiring a minimum number of six officers present at all times.
Fleece said that the officer to inmate ratio can get challenging, as every officer wears a number of different hats.
Nevels pointed out that this “little city” is responsible for feeding, clothing, housing and oftentimes medically treating more than 200 people.
Carmichael previously said that overcrowding causes financial strain, as the jail must spend more money to provide for every inmate.
Jail officials have explored a number of options to help tackle overcrowding.
Grant County Commissioners had previously entertained several ideas about renovating the juvenile detention center to house female inmates as a way to address overcrowding. The options ranged in projected renovation costs between $138,000 and $197,000, with some of the options also including the hiring of three additional staff members.
Nevels said any plans involving the D-Home renovations have been taken off the table at this time.
He said that despite his efforts, no progress was being made to create a resolution.
"We got tired of kicking that can down the road, so I just kicked it into a bush," Nevels said.
Instead, Nevels said he has set his sights on increasing the pay for his officers, hoping that higher salaries will help retain employees.
Negotiations between the county and the International Union of Police Association (IUPA) Local 825, which represents all department employees, are ongoing. IUPA Local 825 president Matt Ogden has previously said the Grant County Council has fallen behind the statewide pace of rising salaries for law enforcement officers, which has led some employees to leave for higher-paying jobs in surrounding counties.
“Our biggest hurdle we deal with is the salary,” Nevels said.
While both courses of action seem to have stalled for the moment, there are also state laws that could offer relief for the overcrowding problem.
Some statutes like House Bill 1078, which passed on May 5, would allow a court to relocate a person convicted of a Level 6 felony to the Indiana Department of Correction if they were a violent offender or had two prior unrelated felony convictions.
Fleece said there are a number of caveats to overcrowding legislation, especially considering most inmates in the jail are currently awaiting trial.
Carmichael estimates that only about 14 percent of all inmates have been sentenced.
Though it's hard to know exactly why, jail officials theorize that the overcrowding problem is heavily drug- related.
"It all goes hand in hand,” Nevels said.
Officials also believe that the current recidivism rate, or the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend, is extremely high.
They estimate that 80 percent of the inmate population has been in the jail previously.
"We know most of the people by name. Bobbi Stitnicky said.
We'd love for our population to be lower. It's not by choice," Cpt. Fleece said the jail works closely with other agencies to help keep the inmate population down, utilizing pretrial release programs, reentry programs and lowered bond amounts whenever possible.
No matter how or why the jail is overcrowded, Nevels said he knows the importance of keeping the jail running efficiently.
“Regardless of overcrowding, we're still open. We don't close," he said.
Chronicle Tribune 1-16-2020
D-Home plans move forward
County council asks commissioners to discuss best options to alleviate jail overcrowding
by Tim Tedeschi,
Grant County Council is ready to fund renovations to the Juvenile Detention Center in order to alleviate overcrowding at the county jail.
At the regular meeting Wednesday, Councilman Mike Scott updated the council on the work of the Juvenile Detention Center (D-Home) Feasibility Review Committee, which consisted of Scott, council president Shane Middlesworth and councilman Mike Roorbach.
“I do believe that as a committee we are to the point that we recognize that we do need to do something, and we would like to see some movement forward in regards to the conversion of the juvenile detention center to expand to house the additional inmates and help alleviate some of the issues that we have that's taken place in the jail,” Scott said.
For years, county officials including Sheriff Reggie Nevels, Superior Court 2 Judge Dana J. Kenworthy and Superior Court 3 Judge Warren Haas have called on the council and commissioners to approve a variety of renovation options that would house female inmates in the current juvenile detention center. Kenworthy said she believes the first serious discussions began in the summer of 2017.
The Grant County Jail routinely houses more inmates than its capacity of 274, with a 2019 average of 283.5 inmates per day. Nevels said it is not uncommon to see 300 inmates in the jail at one time, and Kenworthy noted it has been as high as 311 inmates at times.
“I don't have to tell you we're in the realm of lawsuits at this point for the overcrowding issue, so that's a big concern," she said. “So we are truly hitting a wall. There aren't any more people we can get out of there, and we are trying."
Scott said there are currently three options being considered.
Option 1 would convert the D-Home to a female-only facility with a projected one-time cost of approximately $140,000. Option 2 would convert the D-Home to a dual facility, housing female inmates and eight juvenile beds in separate wings at an approximate initial cost of $170,000. Option 3 would split the facility into a female wing and a 14-bed juvenile wing at an estimated initial cost of $197,000.
Kenworthy said she was in favor of the 14 juvenile bed option because having eight or no juvenile beds locally would force the county to enter a contract with another facility whether kids are placed there or not. The D-Home housed as many as 11 juveniles in December, she said.
"Renovation cost is very minimal, and long term cost for placing juveniles out of county is very expensive. It's not in kids' best interest,” she said. “And that's the most important factor for me. It's just not good for our kids, so we need to work hard to keep our kids here.”
Nevels said he set any hopes of renovations aside after not seeing any movement for months. He said he was shocked when he heard Thursday morning that council said they were ready to move forward.
“I saw it was on the agenda last night and I had spoken to a couple councilmen regarding why it was back on the agenda, and I was not informed of what decision they were going to make until this morning," he said Thursday.
Nevels said he is also in favor of a dual facility, but he cautioned that the estimated costs may go up since they were calculated from bids the sheriff's department obtained during previous discussions.
“The bids were on the table, and now we've got to go back to the drawing board to rebid because we know the price has probably went up. We've got to go all the way back through that whole process again,” he said.
Since council is the county's fiscal body, council members requested that commissioners choose and approve a plan and then bring the plan before council for approval to pay for the project.
“We're ready to fund it. Bring us a proposal please is what we're asking,” Roorbach said to commissioner Mark Bardsley, who was in attendance. “We're going to leave it to you commissioners to narrow it down which of those works. From a committee's perspective, I think we can fund any of them if we needed to."
Bardsley told council the commissioners would have a plan ready for them by the next council meeting in February.
Councilman Mark Leming said he believes the two biggest obstacles that have held up progress on renovations have been money, which council is now in a better position to provide. Other obstacles discussed were staffing and personnel.
"The second hurdle is still going to be out there getting sheriff's deputies, staffing,” he said. “That is exactly one of the things we're going to have to fight to get that done, but I think everybody else is on the same page that we have to do something to get it fixed.”
Nevels agreed, saying his department is already short staffed as it is and currently hiring. Renovations moving female inmates to the D-Home would necessitate hiring at least three more jail officers, he said.
“I'm in favor of doing that, but if we do, once again we would need additional employees to make it work," he said. “That's shocking news to hear that they are looking forward to going to the process, but there's still a lot of work to be done."
Chronicle Tribune 4-9-2020
County releasing eligible inmates during pandemic
By Samantha Oyler
Most agencies and organizations are feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Grant County Jail is no different.
Jail Commander Kevin Carmichael said he's working with the county courts and judges to release eligible inmates in order to help the jail be better prepared for the pandemic, as there are only seven single-person cells in the facility.
He said he provided the courts with a list of 30 inmates who could be good candidates for release earlier this week. The judges approved six of those inmates for release as of Wednesday, according to Carmichael.
While the reason for these releases is new, Carmichael said the act of releasing inmates is not.
"We're always releasing people just as we're always getting people in,” he said.
Releasing more inmates will help open those single cells in case an inmate tests positive for the virus and needs to be quarantined, Carmichael said.
According to Carmichael, those eligible for release are low-level offenders who officials feel can safely reenter the public and keep up with their court proceedings.
"We don't want to let someone out that's dangerous, but we want to give some people the opportunity to follow those guidelines," Carmichael said.
This response is not exclusive to Grant County.
A letter from the State of Indiana, signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb, Chief Justice Loretta Rush, Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray and Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston encouraged local agencies to work together to try to safely release low-risk, non-violent inmates during the pandemic.
"... While Indiana's sheriffs have a duty to provide medical care to those in their custody, the resources and ability to treat and quarantine infected individuals are often limited and more difficult," the letter states. "This is not a question of being soft on crime or criminals, but rather it's a matter of need in a time of widespread public health emergency ..."
Grant County Circuit Court Judge Mark Spitzer said the county judges go through a vetting process when looking at whether to release candidates.
"This is not something that is unique from the standpoint of using a limited resource. The jail is a limited resource," Spitzer said. "You want to be prudent about whether or not that person is a good candidate for release."
Spitzer said the judges consider things like a person's offense, criminal history, additional holds or charges and more when approving or denying their release.
Along with releasing some inmates, both the jail and the courthouse are taking additional precautions to help protect people against the virus.
Carmichael said jail staff are encouraging inmates to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.
He said they've also created additional screening questions for those being booked into jail, designed to help determine whether or not an individual might be more likely to test positive for the virus.
"We are required to stay open, but we've really had to look at all aspects of how we do business," Spitzer said.
Spitzer said the courts are utilizing technology more, adjusting their dockets to limit potential exposure and monitoring the number of people in the courts to help maintain physical distance.
soyler
Chronicle Tribune 8-20-2020
Sheriff anticipates rise in jail meal, medical expenses in 2021
By TIM TEDESCHI
A policy change from the Indiana Department of Corrections (DOC) could lead to higher expenses at the Grant County Jail in 2021, according to Sheriff Reggie Nevels.
At the first of four scheduled 2021 budget hearings Wednesday night, Nevels told Grant County Council non-salary budget items were planned to be exactly the same as 2020 for his department, but he was informed Wednesday by the Indiana Department of Corrections (DOC) that the DOC will not be accepting any sentenced inmates from county jails into its intake facility for the time being due to COVID-19.
According to Nevels, there are currently 18 male and three female inmates at the Grant County Jail that have been sentenced and are awaiting transport to DOC facilities to complete their sentence, but for the time being the county will have to continue to pay to keep them at the jail. Nevels said DOC does reimburse counties $37.50 per day per inmate held at county jails that should be at DOC facilities, but it does not completely cover the expenses the county could incur.
“DOC does reimburse the counties, but it's still being a burden on the taxpayers here plus the burden of being overcrowded,” Nevels said.
To accommodate the expected increase, Nevels requested and council approved an increase in the jail medical and hospital line item from $400,000 to $430,000 and an increase in the jail meals line item from $500,000 to $550,000. He said he hopes the DOC will change course and that he will not have to use the additional funds so he could return it to the general fund, but if things continue as they are now it will probably be necessary.
Nevels said while salaries will be negotiated between council and the sheriff's department union, the department is requesting 5 percent salary raises across the board for department employees.
In other business, Emergency Management Agency Director Bob Jackson requested a new $10,000 line item in his budget for communications, stating his department's radios are more than 10 years old and most have battery issues that make them unable to be taken off a charger and into the field for emergencies. He also requested a new $5,000 line item for equipment within capital outlays to purchase sign boards and other equipment to be used to alert motorists of emergencies ahead and/or to be used at COVID-19 testing sites.
Council President Shane Middlesworth said he would prefer if Jackson tried to seek reimbursement through CARES Act money to purchase the radios and sign boards before including it in the 2021 budget.
"If it's in your budget it's hard to get reimbursed because of COVID because you know it's already established in a fund, so that's something to keep in mind,” he said.
Jackson said the signs would definitely be an allowable expense to be reimbursed with CARES Act funds, but communications items like radios are “a bit of a stretch" and are not always approved as allowable CARES Act expenses.
Council voted to approve the EMA budget without the additional $15,000 from the new line items and also kept the garage and motors account at $12,500 rather than the requested $15,000. Jackson said he would seek CARES Act reimbursement first and report back to council, and Auditor Jim McWhirt said he could always come back for an additional appropriation at a later date if the CARES Act request was denied. Before beginning review with department heads and elected officials, McWhirt said the county would have a Dec. 31, 2021 projected operating balance of approximately $1.057 million in the county's General, Health, Reassessment and Cumulative Bridge funds if all budgets were adopted as presented. He advised the county should strive for a bit of a higher operating balance in order to have a cushion and so funds are available for the 2022 budget as well.
At the budget hearings, department heads present their budgets and answer any questions from council, and council typically takes action to approve all budgets except for those dealing with the salary and benefits of personnel. In addition to the sheriff's department and EMA, council reviewed and approved the non-salary portion of the county clerk, health department, coroner, recorder and prosecutor departments' budgets.
Budget hearings continued Thursday night and are scheduled to conclude next Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 26 and 27.
Chronicle Tribune 6-10-2021
County jail to receive new paint job
By TIM TEDESCHI
The Grant County Jail will soon be getting a facelift that officials say is much needed.
At Monday's commissioners' meeting, Sheriff Reggie Nevels briefed the board on plans to repaint the entire inside of the jail facility. Nevels said the jail has only been fully repainted once - using inmate labor, not a professional company - since its 1990 addition, with small cosmetic touch ups and projects since then using the inmate work crew.
"This is the time where we need to paint the jail entirely, bring it up to speed, so that the jail can at least last another 10-15 years," Nevels said.
Maintenance Director Vince Beneke agreed with Nevels that the jail was "pretty bad” and in need of a new paint job. Commissioner Mark Bardsley said, through his work as a Marion Police Department chaplain, he is at the jail routinely and also attested to the need for the upgrades.
Nevels said Misener Industrial Painting & Restoration (MIP&R) of Fort Wayne has been selected to complete the painting job. MIP&R Marketing Director Paul Ducharme told commissioners his company specializes in industrial painting jobs and has completed projects at county, state and federal jails and prisons as well as factories for GM, Ford and Chrysler.
Ducharme said his company would first review all areas of the facility, complete some tests and ensure the best products that adhere to the walls, cells and bars with the best longevity will be used. He estimated the total job would take four to six months, noting there will be a flexible schedule to interfere as little with the jail's day to day operations as possible.
"That's kind of that living schedule, so whatever works best for the sheriff's department," Ducharme said. "We will adhere to that to make sure it's best and does not affect the operations much on a day to day basis."
Bardsley questioned how MIP&R would handle painting the intake area that is used nearly 24/7.
Ducharme said the company has dealt with similar high-use areas in the past and will work second shift or weekends or even potentially work in spurts while the intake area is being utilized by jail staff - to complete the job.
Nevels said the project is estimated to cost approximately $479,000 but will be paid for out of the jail's commissary fund, which means the project will be funded without taxpayer dollars from the county's general fund.
"We think this will be a win-win for the entire county and also the inmates,” Nevels said.
Commissioner Ron Mowery said the sheriff's recent renovations to the administrative offices have helped change the image of that area, and he is looking forward to the same happening with the jail repainting. "There's no question that those cell blocks have to be a detriment to you," Mowery said, "and personally, other than the price, I think it's going to be good."
While the project is not using general fund dollars, commissioners unanimously approved the project to go forward since they serve as trustees of all county buildings.
Mowery suggested that once the renovations are complete the sheriff's department could hold a public open house to show the results of the work as well as the recent other renovations to the department and jail facilities.
Chronicle Tribune 6-29-2021
Commissioners OK jail repairs | News | chronicle-tribune.com
Commissioners OK jail repairs
By TIM TEDESCHI
Grant County Commissioners recently gave approval for nearly $27,000 of continued upgrades at the Grant County Jail due to years of wear and tear in certain areas.
At the commissioners' meeting last week, Jail Commander Kevin Carmichael requested the board approve the purchase of a new industrial dishwasher at the jail for a total of $11,717.95.
Carmichael said the old dishwasher being replaced was serviced about six months ago with a “Band-Aid” solution to give it about half a year of additional useful life. While it is still operational, Carmichael said jail staff wanted to have the replacement bought and installed before the current unit stopped working and due to current rising costs of construction and appliances.
Carmichael also presented two respective quotes from Bowman Construction of Marion for renovations in the jail's fifth floor control room. He said even after the recent $5.7 million renovations to the jail, some areas were left out of the project and are in need of repairs.
The first quote from Bowman was for $7,650 in order to replace the vinyl flooring in the fifth floor control room and nearby bathrooms. Carmichael said this flooring was completely worn down by office chairs rolling across it and was probably original to the area from the 1992 jail construction, with the wear and tear leading to tripping issues as well.
Bowman also proposed a $7,455 project to replace plastic laminate tops and countertop supports and three locking drawer cabinets for the fifth floor control room casework and sally port block. Carmichael said these areas are also original to the 1992 construction and have worn down over time and didn't quite fit in the previous renovations.
The commissioners approved all three payment requests for a total of $26,812.95. The projects will be paid for out of the jail maintenance line item, and HR Director/County Administrator Justin Saathoff said there is ample funding within the account to pay for the projects.
Chronicle Tribune 2-22-2022
Judiciary lobbies for D-home reopening
BY ANDREW MACIEJEWSKI
As felony cases continue to rise, contributing to chronic jail overcrowding, and costs escalate in order to house juvenile offenders outside of the county, judges are urging county council to expedite plans to reopen the juvenile detention center (D-Home) after it was shuttered last year. Talks about renovating the D-Home began in 2017, including ideas to turn the building into a mixed-use facility that houses adult and juvenile offenders, but the plans for development haven't materialized into action yet.
Ever since mold and HVAC issues forced the closure of the facility in May of 2021, the county sends juveniles to facilities in Kokomo, Muncie, Fort Wayne, Anderson, Franklin and other areas spanning all the way up to South Bend, Grant County Judge Mark Spitzer said during a state of the judiciary address this month.
"We do not have a secure juvenile holding facility in the county. That's significant because if law enforcement picks up a juvenile, they don't have a place they can hold them for a significant period of time," Spitzer said. “So what that means then is they need to transport those juveniles to another facility and the placement in those facilities is subject to the availability..... We've seen continued problems with the availability for the facilities to do that."
The relocation of juveniles also comes at a cost, Spitzer says – not just financially but also at a cost to the children and community's wellbeing. The county estimated it would cost about $200,000 per year to house juveniles outside of the county, but Spitzer said it cost about $218,000 for housing alone between May and December in 2021. The county is also incurring costs to manpower, access to justice and the overall safety of the community.
"Those are problematic, and there's a public safety issue as well. Deputies and officers are pulled off the road to transport juveniles," Spitzer said. "It's expensive. There are public safety concerns and strain on the system.”
Without local control over the services provided by the jail or the administration of the staff placed in charge of the facility, Spitzer argued outsourcing the work could have a deleterious effect on the community.
Spitzer said local schools don't have a place to send kids who are acting out since there isn't a holding facility for juveniles, and he said out of county placements might not be trustworthy for accountability regarding school work. Juvenile offenders may also be placed in situations where they are co- mingling with juveniles accused of more serious crimes, he added.
"Their influence is going to be a negative influence on your kids,” Spitzer told county council. “That's what we see. It's not shocking that when you send kids to be with these higher risk kids who are in these facilities, then you create higher risk kids. We are probably making the problem we have with our juvenile population in Grant County worse."
The county is also seeing added costs at the courthouse due to the difficulty finding facilities available for placements, Spitzer reported. It takes time from law enforcement officials, probation officers, public defenders and other court system employees and their typical duties.
"There are system costs, so you have delays in court proceedings. There are access to justice costs where kids don't have access to their attorney (or) their public defender that's been appointed for them,” he said.
The renovation and reopening of the D-Home could also help reduce jail populations, which have remained above capacity for at least 10 of the last 12 months.
"We are significantly over at this point," Spitzer said.
"From our perspective, we believe the situation has worsened because we keep seeing an increase in felonies,” Spitzer said, noting that felony cases have increased steadily since 2015. “We've really exercised all of our creativity to keep down jail numbers, but we've still seen this chronic overcrowding.”
Spitzer said he understands that the cost of the renovations have increased and moved around since the decision to seek a mixed-use facility was created, but he said it could be a "relatively small investment” to add jail capacity.
"We have a D-Home that is now unused at this point although we have a need for it,” he said.
Chronicle Tribune 9-15-2023
Tensions rise over jail at county council, commissioners joint session
By MORGAN KELLER
Tensions rose in the joint special session of the Grant County Council and Commissioners on Wednesday night, which addressed the still uncertain future of the jail.
The deteriorating conditions and overcrowding of the Grant County Jail have been a controversial topic of conversation for several months.
Designed to house 274 inmates, the jail regularly holds over 350, leaving inmates sleeping on mats on the floor and the jail with inadequate medical services for such a large population.
DLZ is the company that conducted a recent study of the jail and its conditions and Eric Ratts, a representative from DLZ, presented the findings of that study at Wednesday's joint session. The list of problems was extensive, ranging from a lack of ADA compliance to inadequate plumbing to facilities that were far too small and poorly laid out. Additionally, due to the age of the jail, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find replacement parts for parts that have failed and broken.
Most of the other jails in the state that are older and more outdated than Grant County are in the process of expanding or building new jails, Ratts said.
"Quite honestly, in a couple of years... you're going to have one of the two or three oldest jails in the state of Indiana," Ratts said.
Jails are almost entirely constructed as one-floor facilities now, Ratts said, making Grant County's six-floor jail obsolete and extremely staff inefficient.
Sheriff Del Garcia noted that water regularly leaks from upper floors to the spaces below and that they are usually unsure if it is tap water or sewage. In one cell block, the automatic door does not function properly, which means an employee has to shut it manually. Recently, a detention deputy was jumped by an inmate while closing the door, Garcia said.
The jail's conditions are bad enough that Grant County “could get a phone call tomorrow" about a lawsuit, Ratts said.
While the jail study served to draw attention to current problems in the jail, Ratts said that in the future, jail studies could be used for predictive and preventative maintenance by forecasting that in three to five years, the building might need a new roof or a boiler may need to be replaced. Having advance notice that those needs would arise in the near future would allow the county to plan ahead when appropriating funds rather than being shocked by a request for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
All of these problems and more have led to the conversation about the possibility of building a new jail as well as looking at other strategies for reducing the jail population and rehabilitating the current facility. A number that has been suggested as the cost of a new jail is $110 million, a hefty price tag that has drawn criticism from members of the county council.
Dale Davis, Director of Planning at Envoy, a construction and development company, addressed that issue at the meeting.
"People have been talking about the budget number that we shared at the last meeting. That's not the budget,” Davis said. “That is a conceptual number that could generate a facility with the number of beds we need. The reality is, if that's not the amount of funding that's available in the community, that's not our budget. ... Tonight's definitely not to approve a budget, it's to prove the need and to take that next step so we can engage financial professionals to help us understand and help the council understand, as the financial body, what those applications are, what those availabilities are and to move forward with a new plan."
Davis pointed out that even if the county decided to renovate the current jail, the inmates need somewhere to go in the interim while those renovations are taking place, an undertaking that would likely cost millions of dollars.
A question that several people have asked the Chronicle-Tribune is if the old detention center could be used to alleviate some of the problem. At the meeting, Ratts said that the detention center would also need significant rehabilitation and changes to be approved, even temporarily. Even the state did approve its use short term, with fewer than 50 beds, it does not fix the overcrowding nor is it enough space to house inmates while the jail was renovated.
After everyone made their presentations, the council and commissioners began their discussions.
From the perspective of a council member, Chuck Poling, the real answer to the problem was maintenance. Poling has a background in maintenance, having owned and operated a plumbing and sewer company for over three decades.
“We need more maintenance guys, because no matter what, we're going to have to maintain what we have, even if we okay this jail, for the next four or five years,” Poling said. "So we need to start maintaining today. This jail was not the answer to your problem.”
A point that Poling has brought up in multiple meetings and in an interview with the Chronicle-Tribune is that several years ago, the council appropriated around eight million dollars to do some renovations to the jail. He said he was told the jail would be good for 15 to 20 years and that he finds it frustrating to now be told that a new jail is needed.
"The commissioners are the ones that dropped the ball," Poling said. "Not you, Ron, you're new. Not you, because you weren't here, Mr. Wright."
Besides Ron Stewart and Steve Wright, Mark Bardsley is the only other commissioner.
“It's all about getting bang for your buck,” Poling said. “And Mark, you really don't do a very good job getting bang for our buck, as taxpayers."
"I appreciate your being able to say what you want to say,” Bardsley said. “We're not in a campaign battle right now."
For the next few minutes, Poling and Bardsley both spoke over each other, voices raised and fingers pointing.
After the heated exchange, Garcia came back to the podium to address the room.
“All of us as elected officials need to take ownership of the problem that we're facing,” Garcia said. “If we start pointing fingers and blaming other people, the problem is not going to be fixed.”
Garcia mentioned some of the other ways the sheriff's office is working to reduce overcrowding, such as working out deals with local judges to allow non-violent offenders to be released on their own recognizance or utilizing home detention, but said none of those will be the answer to the problem.
While no decisions were made at the joint session, the information presented at the meeting will inform the ongoing conversation.
The next step in that conversation will be the commissioners reviewing and discussing letters of engagement and contracts at the next county commissioner meeting on Monday, September 18 at 10 a.m.
Chronicle Tribune 8-16-2023
'It's borderline inhumane'
BY AMANDA REDMAN and MORGAN KELLER
This cell block holds around 18 people instead of approximately a dozen like it should, Lt. Georgianna Jones said. It is so overcrowded that an inmate sleeps in this “boat” in the common space because there is no room in the cells.
Editor's note: This is the first part of a three-part series on the Grant County Jail.
The Grant County Jail is facing severe overcrowding in an outdated building that cannot meet the needs of its population, according to local officials.
The 274-bed jail was holding 347 inmates on five of its six floors Tuesday when Chronicle Tribune editorial staff toured the facility. Captain Jason Camery, detention director, estimated that ninety percent of inmates are awaiting trial and have not been convicted of crimes.
Due to the overcrowding, 73 of those inmates were literally sleeping on the floor, on mats placed inside a plastic apparatus jail staff call “boats.”
Some of the boats are placed on the floor in two-person cells, putting the cell at 150 percent capacity. Camery estimated that the cells are approximately six feet by seven feet, so adding a boat to a cell in addition to two bunks consumes the majority of the cell's floorspace.
Other boats are located in the area called the “range,” which is a common space in a cellblock, because there is not enough room available in the cells.
The jail is neither compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, nor Department of Corrections mandates, said Eric Ratts, principal architect of DLZ, the firm hired by the county to evaluate options for renovation or rebuilding.
The study was presented to the county council at a July 19 meeting, which is available on the Grant County Government YouTube channel.
"Jails are most efficient, most effective, most secure and best safety when they are about 80-percent occupied," Ratts told the council.
Having spare beds is ideal in case inmates need to be moved or housed outside a cellblock temporarily, Ratts explained.
Camery noted that inmates can be moved to different cellblocks if they exchange words or fight with another inmate, but that the overcrowding makes it difficult to separate inmates by misdemeanors versus felonies.
A single elevator transports an overworked staff of 42 between the floors. The other option is a staircase that inmates use during fire drills.
"It's a very staff-intensive facility because of the different floors and how things are laid out,” Ratts explained. Most jails now are one-story structures rather than the outdated multi-floor structure of Grant County's jail.
The jail, inside the County Office Complex on East Fourth Street, was built in the 1980s, and the top two floors were added in the 1990s. It is past due for renovations or a rebuild, said Camery.
"It's borderline inhumane," Camery said of the jail's conditions.
Chronicle Tribune 8-17-2023
“It is a safety issue”
By Morgan Keller and Amanda Redman
Editor’s note: This is the second part of a three-part series on the Grant County Jail
In addition to the severe overcrowding the Grant County Jail faces, the inmates face poor living conditions due in part to the age of the building.
One of the four oldest jails in the state, the building has major maintenance issues, including broken toilets, water leaks, broken water valves and faulty air conditioning.
Last week, inmates were without water for several hours due to a broken water valve, said Sheriff Del Garcia during an interview in his office.
Indiana Wesleyan University donated several pallets of bottled water for inmates within a couple of hours of the breakage, but the water had to be shut off in a segment of the jail for a few hours two days in a row for repairs to other valves.
"We do have plenty of water,” Garcia said. “We are grateful for that. With the age of the building, these things just occur more often.”
The combination of overcrowding and the condition of the facility create a strain for both staff and inmates, Garcia said.
"It makes it less safe,” Garcia said. "You're dealing with more people.”
Inmates who have met certain criteria are able to become "trustees" at the jail. Their eligibility depends on factors such as their charges, their conduct and if a detention deputy recommends them for the position, detention director Capt. Jason Camery said.
Trustees are able to work in and around the jail. According to Lt. Georgianna Jones, all the cooking for the jail is done by a team of trustees, supervised by managers from an outside company. The inmate work crews that mow in the summer and shovel snow in the winter around the county are made up of trustees.
Since receiving a recent raise from the sheriff, trustees now make two dollars a day, which can be spent in the commissary. Additionally, trustees have better living conditions. Their cell blocks are smaller, are not overcrowded, have more recreational items such as a chess board or a television and have cinderblock walls rather than bars, providing a more dorm-like atmosphere.
Despite the improved living conditions, those cell blocks still have significant issues. In a cell block comprised of nine kitchen trustees, of the three toilets, only one was functional. The other two were covered with black trash bags.
Leaks are also a frequent problem.
"When you were standing on the fourth floor, was it leaking on your head right there by 4A?" Lt. Mark Persinger asked Jones during a tour of the jail the Chronicle-Tribune editorial took on Tuesday.
"No, it wasn't leaking today," Jones said.
Camery said that his office floods frequently whenever there is a leak above it and that they never know what kind of water it is.
The kitchen only has a double oven to handle meal preparation for around 350 each day.
The ceiling has holes in some places, showing wires and air ducts.
One double cell block contains 127 inmates and Jones said fights were a regular occurrence.
"I really wish they would increase our budget so we can hire more people,” Jones said, adding that when fights occur, all available staff will respond to that floor. "Sometimes, we will have to call the police department to come help us."
There are a handful of solitary cells on the first floor to house inmates who can't be in a cell block due to mental or behavioral issues, but there aren't enough, Jones said.
"We're dealing with a lot of mental health problems," Camery said.
Camery would like to see more money directed at mental health and different forms of treatment. Many jails have a mental health provider available 24 hours a day, he said.
Some treatment programs can reduce recidivism, or the tendency of a convicted criminal to re-offend, by as much as 20 percent, Camery said.
The condition of the solitary cells is dated, and some are potentially dangerous, Camery said, pointing to an area on one door that looks like the metal has been torn apart on the inside.
Camery said the previous administration entered a contract with a medical provider based on 250 inmates. Now, the jail is regularly 100 inmates over that number and has reached around 370 inmates at its peak.
The sheriff is in the process of renegotiating the contract for medical care, but additional care will cost additional money.
"We've had bids from two outside companies plus the company that we're currently with," Camery said. "And I can tell you, depending upon how many nurses you have on staff, it's anywhere from about $700,000 to $1.3 million a year. And we've been budgeted about $450,000 currently."
While looking at the double cell block from a control room on the tour, some of the men were only half- wearing their jumpsuits.
“Jumpsuits should be all the way on,” a corporal told an inmate through an intercom. “Over your legs, over
your shoulders.”
After telling the inmates to fully wear their jumpsuits several times, the guard opened the door to the cell block. When the door opened, a wave of warm, humid air noticeably contrasted with the hallway's air conditioning.
"It's a hundred degrees in here,” an inmate complained when instructed to put his jumpsuit on.
Jones said the single elevator for the whole jail frequently breaks down, sometimes four or five times in a day. In the event of a fight or other emergency that needs back-up, the elevator is the best way to reach the floor the fight is on. While there are stairs, Jones described it as a maze that requires specific keys to unlock doors along the way, which drastically slows response time.
“It is a safety issue,” Camery said.
Camery said there are only three maintenance workers that maintain all of the county buildings, including the jail. Additionally, because the jail was constructed so long ago, Camery said the company no longer exists, making it difficult to find spare parts for repairs. Sometimes the correct parts have to be sourced from other parts of the country.
Having so few maintenance workers and scarce resources makes it impossible to provide preventative maintenance, let alone fix existing problems such as broken toilets, elevators or a faulty HVAC system. Camery compared maintaining the jail to triage.
"We have been given a subpar facility and yet we have to house people in a humane way," Camery said. "We want to make changes, we want to make improvements as where we can. So we're trying to do the best we can afford. And we're not trying to overcharge the public... taxes and stuff like that, I understand we have to work within the budget. But you know, it is a catch-22. You're overcrowded and you have a small facility, it's hard."
Editor's note: The final part of the series will appear in the Friday, Aug. 18 edition of the Chronicle-Tribune.
Chronicle Tribune 8-18-2023
County leaders consider solutions to jail disrepair, overcrowding
“The report that was presented last month requires a lot of thought and discussion,” Grant County Commissioner Mark Bardsley told the Chronicle-Tribune Wednesday. “This issue is probably the biggest issue this generation will be making for the county's future. I cannot begin to speculate on decisions....only that we cannot maintain the status quo.”
Bardsley said that temporary repairs are no longer a sustainable solution to the problem.
“We have been buying scavenged parts from old closed facilities to keep this facility going," Bardsley said. "It would cost multiple millions to rehab the jail and still be in conflict with population limits. We can keep patching and repairing, but overcrowding is a major issue.”
The commissioners hired the firm DLZ for a feasibility study and needs assessment that was presented at the July 19 county council meeting.
The firm concluded that the current jail “has exceeded the anticipated life expectancy of being an [e]ffective facility," and proposed a new 558-bed facility with an estimated cost between $88 million and $110 million.
The larger size allows for projected population growth and should allow the jail to operate at or below the recommended 20 percent below capacity, according to Eric Ratts, principal architect.
To recoup some of the project money, the jail could use additional beds to house out of county inmates, which currently costs $45 a day. Another way of recouping costs would be to reserve a number of beds to house federal inmates for $100 a day, Ratts said.
Detention director Capt. James Camery said that when the jail is overcrowded, it makes it significantly more difficult to provide services to help reduce recidivism, the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend. Camery said the jail already partners with organizations like Radiant Health to offer mental health care to address these problems, but said he would like to get to the point where the jail has a therapist on staff.
"If you give us space to try to reduce recidivism, we're going to try to implement different kinds of treatment programs for people who want the help so that they don't come back. We're not just asking for a jail because we need a new jail,” Camery said. “We're asking for a new jail so we can provide the services that are required to benefit this community and this county.
The jail works hand-in-hand with the courts and prosecutors, Sheriff Del Garcia said during an interview in his office.
"We try to get the judge to release nonviolent offenders on their own recognizance,” Garcia said.
In the interim, Garcia said sending inmates to jails in other counties to bring the facility to capacity would cost $1 million a year.
“We don't have the budget for that,” Garcia said.
Council members have differing opinions on the best solution for the jail that is continually overcrowded as evidenced during an interview Wednesday with Shane Middlesworth, Council president, Chuck Poling, Council At Large, and Mike Scott, District 1.
Middlesworth said $8.9 million was allocated for renovations and repairs to the jail during the previous administration in 2018.
“We still have a bond that is outstanding,” Middlesworth said. “We were told it was a 15 to 20 year fix.”
Middlesworth said being told the county needs a new jail just five years later is “troublesome.”
Poling suggested adding maintenance workers to make repairs as they arise could potentially alleviate the need for a new jail.
“You could build 100 buildings and they will fill them," Poling said. “We need to clean up what we have first. We continue to be asked for more money."
Even if the council decides to build a new jail, it will take three to four years for the budgeting, planning and building, Middlesworth said, adding that something needs to be done now to address the present overcrowding and maintenance issues.
"For the short-term, we've got to step up our game...," Middlesworth said. "Long-term, we need a plan for maintenance, for that location and for all the county buildings."
Camery acknowledged that some taxpayers might be reluctant to see an increase in taxes to pay for a new jail or solution to the problem.
County leaders consider solutions to jail disrepair, overcrowding | News | chronicle-tribune.com “We all live in a community, and we all have responsibilities. It's a trade-off,” Camery said. “So, what are you willing to trade for? Are you willing to say, 'I'm not going to pay taxes,' but have a less secure environment and higher crime? I would say that's not a good trade. You do want to make a trade by saying, 'If I have to pay the taxes, then I need the best bang for my buck.' We understand the problem, we see what needs to be done, so if we have to pay higher taxes, we're willing to put in and implement the things that make this community more secure."
The Grant County Commissioners and Council will meet in the county council chambers for a joint session at 6 p.m. Sept. 13 to discuss the future of the jail.
Chronicle Tribune 9-19-2023
Non-violent offenders released on own recognizance to reduce jail overcrowding
By MORGAN KELLER mkeller@chronicle-tribune.com
The Grant County Sheriff's Office and Grant County judges are working together to relieve some of the severe jail overcrowding through releasing some non-violent offenders on their own recognizance...
To release someone on their own recognizance means to release someone pre-trial without the requirement of posting bail based on a written agreement that they will show up to their court date.
Sheriff Del Garcia said there are a few different factors they consider when determining if someone is eligible to be released. One of the main requirements is that the individual must be nonviolent. Past history is considered as well.
“Someone can't be on probation and their probation has been violated, because obviously, they've already had a chance to be out," Garcia said. "Normally it's for people with new charges who haven't been in trouble before. Even some people that have a warrant for failure to appear, in some cases the judges have still allowed them to get OR'd and set another court date."
If someone has previously been released on their own recognizance and reoffended, they are far less likely to be released on their own recognizance again.
Typically, those who are released on their own recognizance have misdemeanors, though Garcia said some felonies such as felony theft could qualify if they were nonviolent. Ultimately, the decision is up to the judge.
At this point, the sheriff's office has been working with Gas City judge Steven Barker and Marion judge Michael Hotz to determine which people can be released on their own
recognizance.
Garcia has met with all the police chiefs and town marshals in Grant County and said another thing they are doing to reduce the jail population is writing tickets and giving a court date to those with minor offenses rather than bringing them in to the jail.
The sheriff's office is also working with community corrections, which handles the home detention program. The home detention program is also exclusively for non-violent offenders and uses ankle monitors to keep those in home detention within their residence aside from exceptions like going to court or with their probation officer. Garcia said they are in "the very early stages of trying to get that accomplished."
These measures are some of the ways the sheriff's office has been attempting to reduce overcrowding in the jail, though the jail remains extremely overcrowded with population regularly at or above 125 percent capacity.
Another change, and challenge, at the jail is that of staffing.
The jail would need 42 workers to be at full staff but is expected to be down to only 34 officers as a few will be leaving in the coming weeks.
This is due to an inability to offer a competitive wage and a struggle to find people who are qualified for the position, Carmichael said.
In one recent case, Carmichael lost an applicant to the Walmart Distribution Center because they were offered a chance to make more than $19 an hour, while the jail can only pay around $15.48.
"One common trend across the nation is a shortage in correction officers, and it has even trickled into law enforcement in general,” Carmichael added.