Inmate overcrowding already is an issue in the new $62 million Vigo County Jail, and the facility is not open yet.
Jail officials reported 401 people in custody Monday.
Of those, 360 inmates were housed in the facility, a new record high, according to jail matron Casey Lee. The current jail has 268 inmate beds, and a federal court mandate not to exceed 268 inmates.
Another 41 inmates were being temporarily held in custody in other counties, state hospitals and state prisons for safekeeping, Lee said Monday.
The new jail — set to open for inmate housing in July — has a bed capacity of 495 inmates.
However, a jail facility is considered overcrowded when the inmate census reaches 80 percent, which is about 400 for the new jail.
Tuesday, Vigo County officials met in a video conference with federal Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson for a progress report on the court-mandated jail expansion project to resolve the overcrowding problem that has dogged Vigo County since the 1980s.
Magnus-Stinson questioned what is happening in the Vigo County court system to reduce the prisoner population. She also asked whether the new jail will have any excess capacity when it opens.
Attorney David Friedrich, representing the county, said that when the jail census numbers increase, he contacts the chief judge and prosecutor about the inmate count, “and then that helps.”
The county work release program is full, Friedrich said, and he noted that 41 inmates are held in facilities outside Vigo County.
“There will be some excess capacity for a while, but not for long,” Friedrich said of the inmate numbers in the new jail. “I think they will be at 420 relatively quickly.”
Plaintiff attorney Ken Falk of the American Civil Liberties Union said he appreciates the court taking notice of the existing jail population numbers.
“It’s going to be unfortunate if the new jail is overcrowded soon after it’s opened,” Falk said.
“And understaffed,” Magnus- Stinson said. The judge is also looking at jail staffing issues, including:
• Is the county hiring enough correctional staff to safely operate the new jail?
• Are salaries for correctional officers high enough to attract correctional staff, considering the jail competes with state and federal prisons in the area to hire staff?
On May 18, Judge Magnus- Stinson plans to personally walk through the new jail constructed on the city’s south side. Another status conference with county officials and others will follow, she said.
Increasing the hourly salary to attract new employees is a new litigation issue for her, the judge said, noting that she has not seen an economy where a $20 hourly pay rate does not attract job applicants.
Vigo County Council President Aaron Loudermilk also attended the video conference Tuesday.
He agreed concerns are valid about the new jail being overcrowded in a short time after opening.
“We built the jail that we had to build at the time, but I don’t think anyone was blind to the fact it could reach capacity in short time if we didn’t take additional action for programming to help with the issues that lead to overcrowding,” Loudermilk said. A larger jail with space for 700 could be been built, but it was difficult enough to build the almost 500-bed jail, he said. What would help reduce overcrowding, he suggested, is to implement additional diversion programs to address the community’s problems with substance use and mental health issues. Repurposing the current jail, once it is vacated, to house other diversion and community corrections programs is one way to alleviate some of the overcrowding in the new jail, Loudermilk said.
Pay raises and maintenance
Constructing a new county jail has not been an entirely popular project with either the public — which ultimately foots the bill through taxes — or with county officials who have many other projects that require tax dollars.
Contacted Tuesday after the status conference, Vigo County Commissioner Chris Switzer said hiring enough staff to fill 81 positions required for the new jail will be a huge challenge.
The jail now has 47 fulltime and 13 part-time employees, below the recommended staffing for the current facility.
A recent pay rate increase to $20 per hour has resulted in 23 applications for fulltime positions, Friedrich said.
In March, the hourly rate was increased from $18 to $19. Just this month, the county’s fiscal body – the Vigo County Council – increased the rate to $20.
“I’m glad we got to $20 per hour,” Switzer said of the correctional officer pay rate. “We have several things battling us, like the federal prison and three other state prisons within an hour’s drive.” Those facilities pay around $22 per hour for correctional officers. Switzer said he hopes a job fair for the new jail will attract the public’s attention and bring in more applications. And FALK he hopes the higher pay rate will attract some local correctional officers who are tired of making the drive to other facilities.
“It’s going to be a battle to get to 81 employees,” Switzer said.
Maintaining the facility is also a concern. Sheriff John Plasse has asked the county commissioners to add two full-time maintenance people dedicated to the new jail’s maintenance, due to the complex systems in the jail that will be beyond the capabilities of correctional staff. Switzer said that until such positions can be approved and funded, the county will rely on maintenance contracts by companies who can handle repairs.
“Maintenance is going to be the priority,” Switzer said of the new jail. As for the issue of the $20 pay rate, council president Loudermilk said he has been encouraged that the recent pay increases have led to an increase in applications for correctional positions.
“I believe the council has been proactive in implementing measures to both recruit and retain jail officers,” Loudermilk said.
However, he said he is concerned that some management issues such as scheduling and training are not being addressed by the current jail staff.
Finding lasting solutions
Building alone does not appear to be a sustainable plan of attack for overcrowding.
Speaking to the Tribune- Star last week about overcrowding in general, the ACLU’s Falk said many things contribute to overcrowding — bail amounts, lack of community corrections or diversion programs, and delays in the criminal justice system among them.
“All mean [jail] stays are increased pre-trial,” Falk said.
Any systemic review of the criminal justice system should look at those local factors, he said.
The federal court cannot mandate to a county how many prosecutors, judges or public defenders are needed to efficiently operate the local justice system.
“The county needs to do a study of its criminal justice system and listen to it,” Falk said. “Recognize the bottlenecks that keep people in jail. With a new jail, the problem is not solved.”
Public activism by local residents will keep county leaders alerted to the problem, he said.
“You have an active group in Vigo County who recognize that keeping people in jail is not the answer,” Falk said.
Former Circuit Court Judge David Bolk agreed the wheels of justice often grind too slowly in Vigo County, as in court systems around the state.
Indiana’s Criminal Rule 4 controls the length of time the county is allowed to bring a case to trial. In many cases, that is 180 days if a person is incarcerated. If a person is released on bail, the time frame is one year.
But, those deadlines can get extended. Court calendars for trials are often eight-cases deep in a courtroom at the week’s start, all parties knowing that some cases will be continued.
The reason more cases are not resolved, however, is different.
Each court can only try about one case per week.
Sometimes a case will be resolved through plea agreement at the last minute, meaning there is no prep time for another case to slide into that trial slot.
Making meaningful plea offers soon after a criminal case is filed, and informing defendants about the offers, is one way to resolve cases faster, Bolk said.
Having courts hold attorneys accountable for preparation in a reasonable amount of time is another tool.
Assessing how many criminal cases are filed in each court per year will also indicate if a court is overburdened and another division needs to be added.
“There are no easy answers,” Bolk said of the complicated path criminal cases must follow to protect constitutional rights of defendants and provide justice for the public.