ANDERSON — A record 2,681 felony charges were filed against individuals by the Madison County prosecutor's office in 2016, a 41 percent increase over the previous year.
The surge was driven largely by a growing epidemic of heroin use, causing an increased workload for police and the judiciary, and chronic overcrowding at the jail, Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said.
Drug use is also fueling a rise in robberies, thefts, burglaries and property crimes as addicts seek quick cash to buy drugs.
"Low-cost heroin is driving the problem, but the opioids are a huge problem, too," Cummings said. "Meth, the opioids and heroin is the trifecta that is really driving the drug trade."
A report compiled annually by the Madison County Sheriff's Department of misdemeanor and felony charges filed shows how quickly the use of heroin has grown in the past two years, joining methamphetamine and prescription drug abuse as an intractable public health crisis.
According to the report, from 2014 to 2016:
• The number of charges filed in Madison County for Level 6 felony possession of a syringe jumped from 70 to 262, an increase of 274.3 percent.
• The number of charges filed for possession of paraphernalia, most often as a misdemeanor, jumped from 98 to 262, an increase of 167.3 percent.
• The number of charges filed for possession of methamphetamine jumped from 40 to 203, an increase of 407.5 percent.
• The number of charges filed for possession of all controlled substances and classes of illegal drugs and paraphernalia, including syringes, jumped from 807 to 1,374, for an overall increase of 70.3 percent.
The most shocking number of all, however, is 231.
"We had 231 people in this community die of drug overdoses last year ... 231," Cummings said. "We need to get tough on people who are bringing death and destruction into our community, but we also need to provide a means and the ability for people to get off drugs."
In its 2014 criminal justice reform program, the Indiana General Assembly reduced the penalties for possession and use of drugs. Some of those measures reduced sanctions for drug dealers as well.
"I think they (state lawmakers) realized they’ve gone too far and we need to get tougher on the dealers," Cummings said.
Now, the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council is backing legislation aimed at restoring tough penalties on drug dealers, and advocating for money to support drug addiction treatment programs, Cummings said.
"Let’s make a delineation of who the dealers are and let’s start getting tough on those people and lock them up because it’s bringing death into our community," he said.
"We need to find a way to try to provide treatment. We as an organization are pushing the Legislature and we’re hoping the governor will join us in that initiative to get tough on the dealers and provide treatment money for addicts.:
The Indiana Lawyer reported last month that lawmakers and Gov. Eric Holcomb support ongoing funding for programs intended to rehabilitate low-level offenders in hopes of reducing the number of repeated incarcerations.
Holcomb's budget proposal included a $10 million funding increase for Recovery Works, a program that provides vouchers for offenders seeking help with mental illness or drug dependency. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Division of Mental Health and Addiction runs the program.
Holcomb also supports a $5 million increase for the Indiana Department of Correction’s grant program that provides money to county jails, courts and probation offices. These entities can apply for this funding to help handle the influx of Level 6 felony inmates who now serve sentences in local jails.
The current overcrowding problem at the Madison County Detention Center is largely caused by an influx of Level 6 felony inmates.
Madison County is spending close to $1,000 per day to house inmates in neighboring Blackford and Delaware counties because of overcrowding at the local jail.
The state reimburses the county $35 per day for inmates that have been sentenced on Level 6 felonies and are being housed locally instead of through the Indiana Department of Correction.
Mellinger said it takes 90 minutes to transport the Level 6 inmates to Blackford County each way; the trip to Muncie is an hour round trip. That doesn’t include the cost of transporting the inmates to Anderson for court appearances and meetings with attorneys.
Maj. Joseph Cole said officials have a practice of releasing nonviolent offenders as quickly as possible to help control overcrowding, but said the practical reality is that's not enough.
"That's what we have done, but our numbers are getting to be so high. ... It's getting to be where we're letting people out of jail that shouldn't be released," he said.