The Henry County Council officially introduced a tax ordinance Thursday to raise money for a new correctional and rehabilitation center to replace the current jail.
If it passes, the 0.2 percent income tax could help finance a new facility.
Henry County is currently facing two federal lawsuits stemming from alleged overcrowding in the Henry County Jail.
Sheriff Ric McCorkle has told other elected officials several times that the jail was originally built to hold 76 people. As of Friday, there were 124 inmates on the jail list.
“We’re looking very hard at what our best solutions are,” McCorkle told the county council Thursday.
McCorkle said 42 of Indiana’s 91 county jails are facing overcrowding issues. That has made it difficult to find room for many Henry County inmates, the sheriff said.
He’s recently been in contact with Elkhart County, which has 50 beds available at $40 per day.
McCorkle said this option would lessen the stress on the Henry County Jail, but would also cost the county hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, each year.
The sheriff is scheduled to be at a settlement conference in Indianapolis Nov. 13.
McCorkle said if he can’t show Chief United States District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson proof that Henry County is looking for solutions, a panel of judges could force the county to act.
“My intention is that it’ll be our idea,” McCorkle said. “If we get down to a federal panel of judges ... who will tell us in no uncertain terms we’re going to build a jail ... we’re going to build it to their specifications.”
A jail study has been performed over several years with a final report completed in late-2018. Since then, a local correctional task force with five subcommittees was formed by the Henry County commissioner last fall
This group has met multiple times, while the “Alternatives to Incarceration” subgroup continues to meet to research and make recommendations about tackling the persistent issue of substance disease and mental illness which affects an estimated 85 percent of the Henry County jail population.
Any option, including bringing in temporary inmate housing “pods” will have a high price tag.
“We have to do something now,” agreed Henry County Council President Susan Huhn, “and it is going to require money.”
Indiana lawmakers created the Correctional and Rehabilitation Local Income Tax in 2018 to help pay for solutions.
According to a tentative impact study on Henry County taxpayers, the estimated impact of a new 0.2 percent income tax on the median Henry County household income would be about 25 cents per day, or about $90 per year.
The Henry County Council will have a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17 to deliberate and receive public comment and feedback as they weigh, discuss and consider adopting a Correctional and Rehabilitation Local Income Tax.
The council could then take final action on the proposed tax at their regular scheduled meeting Oct. 24.
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