Cell mates: Jeff Fulford, an employee with the Pauly Jail Building Company and a member of Ironworkers Local 122, welds on two of the jail cells at the new Vigo County Jail on Friday, April 30, 2021. Tribune-Star file/Joseph C. Garza
No extra room: Inmates in the Vigo County Jail play dice during their time in D Block on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020 in the jail. Staff file photo by Joseph C. Garza
•
•
Current Vigo County Sheriff John Plasse said the struggle to get a new Vigo County Jail built has been frustrating, especially when it is obvious to anyone touring the current jail that the building is outdated and obviously used up.
“It’s been embarrassing to have a judge order the county leadership to fix the problem and then watch the leaders fight over how to do that,” Plasse said. The new jail — with a price tag of about $68 million (not including debt service) — is constructed with about 500 beds.
Two general population areas contain about 430 beds. Both of those areas are subdivided into 10 units of either eight, 16, 24 or 32 beds, with each area overseen by a central control room. Those two general areas also have their own classrooms for inmate programs, an indoor/outdoor recreation area, and attorney conference rooms.
In addition, inmates can be housed in a medical segregation area of 30 beds, an intake/holding area with 28 beds, and a special custody area of eight beds.
The design improves the ability to separate and provide programming to inmates with addictions and mental health issues.
In addition to operating the sheriff’s department as the county’s law enforcement agency, the sheriff is charged with holding people taken into custody and getting those people to and from court for hearings and trials.
State and federal standards mandate nutrition and recreation — and, as in the federal court order, limit the inmate census. Every jail in the state is inspected annually by the Indiana Department of Correction, and is evaluated according to standards applied to jails across the state.
The survey covers more than 200 specific items, including staffing and training, physical conditions of the facility, clothing and hygiene for inmates, medical and health services, nutrition, discipline and security.
A review of annual inspection reports back to 2009 show the current jail facility has continually been non-compliant in multiple areas, including providing audio and visual communication in the temporary holding area, and adequate toilets and showers. Improvements have been made through the years, but none have resolved the overcrowding issue.
The 2020 jail inspection report noted that inmates had requested additional cleaning supplies, brushes and rags to enhance cleaning efforts, but several of the brushes were nearly worn out.
Inmates are responsible for cleaning their own cell blocks.
The report also showed the jail needed to be painted — floor to ceiling — due to severe paint peeling.
Who are the inmates?
So who are the people being housed in the Vigo County Jail — and do they need to be there? Police and prosecutors believe the people in the jail should remain there to protect the public, though judges have the final call.
“We don’t go around doing roundups of people for trespass or loitering,” said Plasse, who previous to his term as sheriff served on the Terre Haute Police Department for more than 30 years. “Even if we did, those people wouldn’t stay in jail anyway. They get a ticket and don’t even go to jail. We’ve changed it with the courts where, unless you really need to be here, you’re not here.”
A one-day look at the jail census undertaken by the Tribune-Star on Jan. 12, 2022, shows 284 people were awaiting resolution of the criminal allegations against them. (That’s 20 people more than the federal mandate allows.)
In reviewing the jail log of each person on that date, the Tribune-Star categorized each person’s case as related to either violence, drugs, firearms or sex crimes. While many people had cases spanning multiple categories, cases that involved physical violence to a person were separated from cases with the main offense being drugs. While rape and child molestation are also crimes of violence, they were grouped as sex crimes.
Of the 284 cases, 22 people were being held primarily on a felony firearms violation — usually because the person had been previously convicted of a violent crime and was not permitted to possess a firearm. However, at least 64 of the 284 cases (some including homicides, robbery and aggravated assault) involved use of a firearm.
The majority of the 284 individuals faced multiple criminal counts and more than half were accused of crimes of violence. Those crimes include murder, reckless homicide, aggravated battery, robbery and sex crimes. More than 100 individuals were held primarily on drug-related charges. The majority of those were for dealing methamphetamine, cocaine or specific controlled substances. While several of those 100 cases involved marijuana as one of multiple, lesser allegations, no one in the jail was held solely on a charge of dealing or possessing marijuana. Length of stay for each individual in the jail was also available, based on individual booking dates.
The majority of people in the jail were being held on charges filed in 2021.
Only six males were being held on charges filed in 2019. Four of those involved violence, including a homicide and armed robbery. One case involved drug-related allegations connected to a drug ring involving local school children. One case involved child molestation allegations.
Thirty-four people were in jail on charges originating in 2020. Of those, six people faced drug-related crimes, 24 were charged with violent offenses and three were sex offense cases. While only one case was based solely on a felony firearms violation, firearms were involved in at least 14 of 24 cases. Six involved homicide and two involved attempted homicide.
Two hundred and seven inmates had their cases filed in 2021.
Of those, 79 were drug-related, 105 were violent crimes, 14 were sex crimes and nine are based on firearms violations. Of those 207 defendants, 44 had at least one firearms charge in addition to their other pending charges. Looking at the roster on Jan. 12, 2022, the jail held 36 people arrested since the start of the new year.
Of those 36 people, 22 had drug-related cases, 11 involved violent crimes, two were accused of sex crimes and one had only a firearms charge. Of those 36 cases, a total of three involved firearms.
© 2025 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.