In September 2016, a detox cell was full of inmates awaiting processing at the Madison County Jail before being moved into the general population. Photo provided
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INDIANAPOLIS — The bill was heralded as a bipartisan solution to ease overcrowding in Indiana’s jails.
But nearly a year later, the benefits lawmakers and criminal- justice officials projected in House Enrolled Act 1004 haven’t appeared.
The new provision approved last year allows judges to sentence level 6 felony offenders to the Indiana Department of Correction with no stipulations for the first time in about a decade. That’s when the overhaul of the state’s criminal code took effect, requiring F6 offenders to be housed in county jails.
Since then, sentencing reforms have led to routine jail overcrowding across the state.
In 2021, 37% of county jails in the state were considered overcrowded or at capacity, leading to a higher risk of violence, tension and the availability of contraband, according to the most recent report from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.
Allowing judges to more easily sentence F6 offenders to prison was meant to mitigate that overcrowding. The provision was also intended to give inmates access to mental health services and substance abuse programs inside a state prison when treatment isn’t available at the county level.
But data provided in June by the department of correction shows many county judges are hesitant to send F6 offenders to state prison, and some prosecutors say it hasn’t helped to reduce jail overcrowding.
In fact, fewer level 6 felons were sentenced to prison over the last year than the year before the provision took effect.
From July 2022 through May 2023, just over 1,300 F6 offenders were placed in a department of correction facility. That’s down from the previous year when 3,262 were placed at a state facility during a portion of their sentence.
The bottom line: Only about 8% of people convicted in Indiana of a level 6 felony from July 2021 through June 2022 were sent to a state facility. The number is even lower over the last year despite the new sentencing code.
In Madison County, the new provision hasn’t been used much despite years of jail overcrowding, according to Circuit Court Judge Scott Norrick.
That’s because there’s such a backlog of level 6 felony cases that those filed after July 1, when the provision took effect, haven’t reached the sentencing stage yet, he explained.
Still, Madison County has sentenced 154 of those backlogged offenders to the department of correction based on the narrow stipulations previously allowed under the law prior to HEA 1004. That’s the highest number in the state. Most of those inmates are being housed at the county jail under contract from the state department of correction, Norrick said, which has contributed to overcrowding at the facility.
“Those are the ones that are still clogging up our jails, even up to today” he said.
The Vigo County Jail also faces near constant overcrowding. Despite that, judges there have sentenced only seven F6 offenders to a state prison, according to the data provided by the department of correction.
One reason: Those sentenced to the department of correction still end up sitting in the county jail for two to three months before there’s enough room at a prison, according to Vigo County Prosecutor Terry Modesitt.
In fiscal year 2022, medium-security facilities for men operated at an average capacity of 90%, while maximum-security facilities for men operated just below full capacity, according to the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.
“Because of the jail and prison overcrowding, we’re going to err on trying to come up with something else (other than jail/prison time), like work release or in-home detention or something like that,” Modesitt said. The department of correction has been closely monitoring the number of people sentenced to state facilities on a level 6 felony and is making adjustments, according to Annie Goeller, the IDOC’s deputy commissioner of strategic alignment. Despite having little impact so far on jail overcrowding, the new level 6 sentencing flexibility is welcomed by many prosecutors. Modesitt noted it allows more discretion.
“There are always exceptions,” he said. “It’s better for the people that are more familiar with the individuals and more familiar with the cases to make sentencing decisions.”
In Elkhart County, prosecutors have used that discretion to issue prison sentences only to F6 offenders who pose a threat to the community or show little hope of reform, according to County Prosecutor Vicki Elaine Becker.
Over the last year, Elkhart County has sentenced about 36 offenders to a state prison. On average, the prosecutor’s office sees about 9,000 criminal filings a year.
“If this is a person who has already had attempts at rehabilitation and it’s just not working, those are the people that normally go to DOC,” Becker said. “It's like, why are we wasting our resources on people that just don’t even want to be helped?”
She noted local mental health programs are often more helpful to inmates than treatment at a state prison.
“From the fiscal side of things, I have some concerns about the effectiveness of the interventions that are offered at the DOC. The DOC is very quick to want to get people out of DOC.”
Although most county judges aren’t utilizing the new provision, it could become useful in the coming years, according to Madison County Judge Norrick.
Once more F6 cases reach the sentencing stage, a stint in prison instead of a crowded county jail could become a more viable option, at least in his court, he argued.
“I think it’s going be useful down the road, and I think it’s going to start coming into play more and more each day,” Norrick said.
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