Solutions sought for Huntington County jail overcrowding

Huntington County Sheriff Terry Stoffel said the letter addressed issues with the jail being understaffed and and overcrowded. Since receiving the letter 180 days ago, Stoffel said four full time jailers have been added to the staff and 14 inmates have been sent to Miami and Noble Counties for holding.

The current jail is a 98 bed facility, though Stoffel noted there are currently around 10 prisoners more than beds available. He added the state would prefer to see the jail operating at 80 percent total capacity in order to properly segregate inmates based off crimes they are accused of.

Along with hiring officers, Stoffel noted the jail is remodeling the courtyard area by putting a retractable roof over the area so it can be used year-round, which will reportedly be used for counseling, mentoring, spiritual support, help from the Bowen Center and prayer and church.

Among the options discussed for short-term fixes were adding a pod to the jail, which will add an estimated 20-25 beds and take around two years to complete, or adding a $16-17 million full expansion which would add around 120 beds. Commissioner Tom Wall suggested if no other option could work that the county look at building a new jail and make the current jail into a juvenile detention or community correction center.

Huntington County Council member Ron Kline said at present, there is no way the county could fund a full expansion or new jail.

“I don’t know how we could finance it, everyone’s taxes would skyrocket,” Kline said. “When we financed the courthouse, we’re pretty close to the maximum amount we can borrow.”

Commissioner Rob Miller said at present, the county can’t afford not to look into a jail expansion for public safety concerns. Information provided by Huntington Superior Court judge Jennifer Newton states the county is currently only holding 6 percent of new pending criminal cases pre-trial, where 12 to 15 percent should be held.

Commissioner president Larry Buzzard said if there wasn’t an ability or willingness to house and prosecute, there would have to be a definition of the level of crime the county would be willing to live with.

“That’s what they do in Los Angeles, that’s what they do in Detroit, that’s what they do in Chicago. We don’t do that here. We like being safe, we like getting the bad guys off the street. But that’s the only other option we have,” Buzzard said. “I hope it doesn’t come to that. We don’t want that.”

Newton and Stoffel attributed the rewriting of Indiana’s criminal code in 2014, which was meant to bring the focus of rehabilitating minor offenders at the local leve, as being a large part of the overcrowding issue. Newton said the jail would be at capacity if they only processed and sentenced Level 6 felonies alone. It was added those sentenced for a Level 6 felony can face up to two and a half years in jail.

State Senator Andy Zay said the belief behind the decision was that lower level crimes can be best resolved in the communities where offenders reside.

“The state created a huge mess for us,” Stoffel said. “The people who made that decision sure didn’t look at Huntington. Until we created this 800 square feet to start addressing that problem [drugs], we never had any place to deal with the problems these folks have. We had nothing. They were getting more at the state than we could offer here, and still are until we get this room done.”

Newton also added that community corrections and probation have repeat offenders, as on April 12, she saw 39 inmates with probation violations and 14 with community corrections violations, which would require them to again be housed in the jail. A limited number of inmates were noted to qualify for work release and community service as well.

No final decision or commitment was made on the matter following the meeting.