A federal judge is requiring a timetable for progress on construction of a new Vigo County jail, as well as report on increasing current jail staffing.
Further, U.S. District Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson made note of unconstitutional conditions at the jail and warned of further judicial action should county officials not make progress.
In a document signed Monday and posted online Tuesday morning, Mangus-Stinson outlined her decisions from a Friday hearing in which she granted partial summary judgement to inmates who filed a lawsuit in 2016 claiming unconstitutional conditions at the Vigo County Jail.
Magnus-Stinson found some conditions at the jail are unconstitutional, according to the court's entry to the case record.
The federal judge ordered the county sheriff and county officials to "prepare a reasonable timetable which reflects when the new jail will be operational."
That timetable is due Oct. 15.
Magnus-Stinson also ordered county officials to meet and determine how the county can correct the violations of federally guaranteed rights.
"Increased staffing would further the goal of increasing the amount of recreation inmates could engage in and would improve the staff's ability to perform medical and safety checks," the judge wrote.
Magnus-Stinson also noted she would issue a more comprehensive order soon. That order, she noted, would discuss relief for the inmates "for defendants' constitutional violations in more detail."
Vigo County Attorney Michael Wright on Tuesday told the county's Board of Commissioners the judge will not wait the the two years needed to build a new jail and will order additional staffing at the current jail.
"She (Judge Magnus-Stinson) indicated that in the interim, in the 24 months or however long it is for construction of a new jail, that she is going to order additional staff to ensure the sheriff can administer recreation in the jail during that two year period," Wright said.
"For the first time, the jail has been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge," Wright told the commissioners.
"The log sheets that we compile and share (with plaintiffs) detail what we can do and what we do. It is constitutional requirement, and it is specifically in the agreement from 2001, that each prisoner will be awarded a minimum of three hours of recreation each week, and the county is not delivering on that promise, and the judge is not satisfied with that condition as it exists," Wright told the board.
Magnus-Stinson took note of the Vigo County Council's passing in August of a 0.75 percent local income tax increase, most of which will go to funding a new jail, in her determination that "Vigo County officials are serious about alleviating the unconstitutional conditions at the jail."
Magnus-Stinson also noted "Vigo County tax dollars would be best spent solving the issue of unconstitutional conditions at the Jail rather than failing to solve the problem and exposing taxpayers to serial litigation brought by Jail inmates who have suffered personal injuries due to those conditions," the judge wrote.
The parties in the lawsuit are to periodically report to the court on efforts including hiring additional staff, increasing recreation time for inmates, increasing medical and safety checks, as well as progress on construction of a new jail.
She will hear the first report will be at a hearing at 1 p.m. on Nov. 13 in the U.S. Courthouse in Terre Haute.
The judged ordered the county sheriff, presidents of the Board of Commissioners and Vigo County Council must attend.
The judge also ordered that following the November election, newly elected individuals for county sheriff, commissioner and county council should be substituted in as defendants in the federal lawsuit.
Wright told county commissioners that should the county not hire enough staff and not follow a timeline for construction of a new jail, Judge Magnus-Stinson would be open to more stringent measures.
Magnus-Stinson noted that unconstitutional conditions at the jail are "a local problem that is best solved by local officials."
Still, she wrote, to the extent the steps outlined are not met, the court will provide all relief possible to the plaintiffs, "which could include the appointment of a three-judge panel to consider whether a prisoner release order and other measures are appropriate."
Wright said the judicial panel could include imposing a much more stringent restrictions on the number of inmates housed in the current county jail.
As an example, he said, the panel could rule the county may not house more than 200 inmates in the jail in Terre Haute, where the cap is now 268. With the total Vigo daily jail population now running around 300, that could result in the county having to pay for detention elsewhere of 100 inmates.