With its jail maxed out, Vigo County comes calling in Albion

At $35 per day per inmate, Noble County is saving the money it’s making from Vigo County to go toward purchasing new jail security cameras that are about 15 years old.

Vigo County Sheriff Greg Ewing said it’s “mind-boggling” that he had to travel 228 miles just to find a place to house overflow offenders.

Jails surrounding the western Indiana county each could take a handful of inmates, but he needed to move 30 people right away to free up space for a large diesel truck festival in Terre Haute that brings in thousands of visitors — and typically results in several arrests.

“We appreciate all the help, even though (Noble County Sheriff Doug Harp) is so far away,” Ewing said. “We were out of options.”

Noble County Jail Commander Shane Coney said the 30 Vigo County inmates arrived on Aug. 26 and were booked, classified by their offenses and mixed with the rest of the local jail population.

All of the inmates are being held on pretrial confinement, unable to bond out and are awaiting court hearings, Coney said. Ewing found the people with court dates set the furthest out and shipped them to Noble County, Coney said.

That’s different from other arrangements Noble County has made for housing. The Albion facility is housing some DeKalb County inmates, since that county is struggling with jail overcrowding, too, but it’s only taking people who have been convicted and are serving a sentence.

Vigo County is responsible for all transportation, Coney said. If an inmate has to appear in court or is bonded out, Vigo County is responsible for picking up the inmate and taking him back to Terre Haute, he said.

The 30 inmates are being held on a wide range of charges, including burglaries, drug offenses as well as some for robbery or aggravated battery, Coney said.

Coney set restrictions on the types of inmates he didn’t want when the agreement was being worked out with Vigo County.

“I did not want any sex offenders or females and then medical problems. Those were the three stipulations,” Coney said.

The boost in inmates will cost Noble County a little more in food, but otherwise the county isn’t expected to experience other increased costs by holding them. The jail had plenty of clothing and bedding available from when the daily jail population was higher. Any medical care the inmates require also will be paid for by Vigo County.

Utility costs remain fairly steady regardless of how many people are inside the jail, and the same amount of staff is able to run the jail daily, Coney said.

On Thursday, the Noble County Jail was holding 143 people. The maximum capacity of the jail is 262.

In previous years, Noble County would have an average daily population of as many as 200, but that number sharply declined due to a change in Indiana’s criminal code.

The county previously housed dozens of inmates for the Indiana Department of Correction and received $35 per day per inmate to do so. But due to the law change, prison populations have decreased, allowing the state to house those inmates, and taking them — and the money — out of Noble County.

Harp has been looking around the state for opportunities to house inmates for crowded jails in order to increase use of the Noble County Jail and to regain some of the revenue that was lost when the DOC pulled its inmates out.

For much of this year, the daily population of the jail has been about 100, only about 40 percent of the maximum capacity.

Vigo County, like many other Indiana counties, is in the opposite situation, with a jail that’s bursting at the seams.

The Terre Haute facility is under a strict guideline not to exceed it’s 268-inmate cap, which stems from an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit from about a decade ago, Ewing said.

Vigo County struggles daily with overcrowding and is in the process of exploring a jail expansion, he said. In the meantime, he’s paying about $4,000 per day to house inmates outside of his county.

Sheriffs from neighboring counties have thanked him, because, for example, the money Sullivan County earned from housing Vigo County’s inmates helped reroof its jail. Another county was able to buy a couple new squad cars, Ewing said.

Noble County is saving the money it’s earning from Vigo County to go toward a camera upgrade for the jail that could cost $200,000 or more. With the 30 inmates currently being held, it would take a little more than six months to collect $200,000.

Ewing wasn’t sure how long his inmates will be staying in Albion. He’d like to withdraw them as soon as possible, but that’s likely going to prove difficult.

“I would like to tell you it would be short-lived, and I looked at our jail count today and we’re still at capacity. As quickly as we can get those guys back close to home, we’re going to do it,” Ewing said. “It’s going to take a while to get those people shuffled out.”