Addictions blamed for rising jail population in Monroe County

It’s a statistic Jail Commander Sam Crowe called “staggering” as he recently spoke before the Monroe County Council to detail the jail’s 2017 annual report. And Crowe estimated 90 percent of the people booked into the county jail struggle with drug or alcohol addiction.

In 2016, 4,059 people were booked into the Monroe County Jail, compared with 6,224 in 2017. 

The average daily inmate count for 2017 was 288, which is 18 more inmates than the daily average in 2016. That’s also an increase of 44 more inmates than the daily average in 2010.

A 2008 class-action lawsuit filed against Monroe County for housing too many inmates in its jail was settled between local officials and the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana with a population cap of 278 inmates.

Despite the established population cap, set under the building’s capacity of 294 inmates, the jail’s population continues to be well over 300. When Crowe presented his annual report Tuesday, that day’s jail population was 335 inmates.

“We’re at a wall where we can only do so much,” he said.