For the first time in more than six years, the Jackson County Jail’s average population for a month fell below the jail’s capacity.
The average daily inmate count at the jail for the month of November was 243, which represents 98 percent of the jail’s 248-bed capacity.
It’s the first time the jail has reached that feat since April 2012 when the county was below its capacity by one inmate. That’s a string of 78 months.
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Carothers said it’s only the second time since he became sheriff in 2011 that the jail has averaged lower than capacity.
“Before that, it must have been around 2008 or 2009 or something,” he said. “My whole two terms have pretty much been with an overpopulated jail.”
Carothers and other county officials have long expressed concerns about inmate and jailer safety and the possibility of lawsuits because of the jail’s continued overpopulation over the years.
“There’s the federal lawsuit, safety of jail officers and safety of the inmates that have concerned us,” Carothers said.
The jail had as few as 230 a day at times in November and as many as 256.
The numbers are a sign the county’s decision to close the Jackson County Juvenile Detention Center early this year may have begun paying off. The closure provided 56 extra beds and a separate pod for female inmates to raise capacity from 172 to 248.
Since May — the first month the juvenile center was used to house adults — the jail has not been over capacity by more than 120 percent, something it has not averaged the last two years.
“Had we not closed it, we’d be at 130 percent or something,” Carothers said.
Commissioners closed the center at the end of March and have since been sending juveniles to other counties to be held.
While the closure of the center has been a driving force behind better capacity numbers, there have also been fewer arrests by local agencies.
The sheriff’s department and other agencies in the county arrested 139 people in November, the lowest level in the last two years. Seymour police had the highest number of arrests at 54, while county officers arrested 52.
It’s a contrast to just a year ago when local agencies arrested 181 people in November 2017, when both the sheriff’s department and Seymour police arresting 80.
Carothers said arrests often ebb and flow, but numbers have likely gone down with temperatures.
“Crime always go down when it first gets cold and cabin fever hasn’t set in, so to speak,” he said. “It’s noticeably less lately.”
Since January 2017, police have arrested more than 200 in a month six times, including four this year. The highest number in the two years was 219 this February.
But the county has marked a trend of lowering its average inmate count with a reduction each month since July.
The trend held in the first week of December with Friday’s population at 241 with 185 men and 56 women at the jail.
“For right now, I think it will hold because our arrests haven’t been too terrible,” Carothers said, adding local agencies have arrested 45 so far in December. “We should be in the 140 or 150 range if things continue because the holidays usually show a little less arrests.”
A lower population eases the demand on the 35 jail officers, improves conditions and makes it safer for inmates and staff.
“It definitely helps them because it lowers the stress,” he said.
As far as a long term plan to reduce the population, Carothers — who will leave office at the end of the month — thinks a new Centerstone drug program started this year could help. Centerstone is a nonprofit health care organization that provides mental health care, addiction treatment and community education in Indiana and Florida, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee.
The program helps inmates affected by addiction and provides them with life skills once they serve their sentence.
Fifteen people — the maximum — are enrolled in the program.
“And we have a waiting list,” jail Commander Charlie Murphy said. “We have some great success stories on it, too.”
Carothers said the program has been encouraging and shows potential.
“It’s making a difference,” he said.
Carothers said the trend is a good one as his time as sheriff winds down.
“I was pleasantly surprised to see it that way,” he said.
Republican Rick Meyer will take over the reins of the department Jan. 1.