In order to keep an eye on staffing and population, a federal court will retain jurisdiction in the 2016 lawsuit over overcrowding at the Vigo County Jail. U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson on Thursday noted the county still lacks enough correctional officers to fully staff the new jail, which is to open next month. Additionally, the inmate count, when those now being held outside the county are added to the mix, is likely to immediately reach or exceed 80% of capacity. After 80 percent, the new 495-bed jail will be considered overcrowded.
Magnus-Stinson toured the new jail on Wednesday and conducted a status hearing in the U.S. District Court of Southern Indiana in Terre Haute. In a docket entry filed Thursday, the judge “noted the possibility of convening a meeting between local judges, prosecutors, public defenders and the defendants to discuss initiatives to address population issues at the new jail.”
David Friedrich, attorney for the county, told the court the current jail population may be high due to a backlog in processing cases from the COVID-19 pandemic and charging decisions which often result in defendants not accepting plea agreements until just before a trial.
The judge inquired if the county has plans for a mental health diversion facility.
Sheriff John Plasse on Thursday said the department is working with the United Way of the Wabash Valley and with the Wabash Valley Recovery Alliance, a member of the Drug Free Vigo County Coalition, to staff and open a diversion facility.
“We are meeting on that again in July. We are working to get funding and staffing,” Plasse said. “We have had meetings for many months and will work with the prosecutor’s office, which would oversee who would go to a diversion facility.
“If we come across someone in crisis who had charges, that are non-violent, we can offer them to go to the diversion center. If they complete what they are supposed to do, the prosecutor would not file [additional] charges again them and helps keep them out of the jail and out of the system,” the sheriff said.
In a June 1 report to the court, Friedrich stated the county had 49 full-time and 14 part-time correctional officers who worked at the jail as of May 30. On Wednesday, Friedrich reported to the court the sheriff’s department has 53 full-time correctional officers and 13 part-time correctional officers.
“We have 11 that have accepted [employment] offers, so under the current order, we are supposed to have 68 or 69 full-time [correctional officers], so obviously we are moving in that direction,” Friedrich said after the hearing.
“In the new jail, the staffing analysis shows we are supposed to have 81 fulltime correctional officers, so we are within 30 days of moving in,” Friedrich said, “and we are still short staffed.”
“Another issue we talked about is the new facility with have 495 beds and under the [state] Department of Corrections categorization, 80% is at capacity. So we had 347 in-house [inmates in the Vigo County Jail as of Wednesday] and we had 51 people out of county, so if you move all those people into the new jail, we are at capacity,” Friedrich said.
“Obviously staffing will be an issue and obviously this jail will be overcrowded, so the sheriff’s department will keep those 50 plus people out of county when they move into the new jail,” Friedrich said. Ken Falk, attorney for the ACLU of Indiana, said having the judge retain jurisdiction shows all issues are not yet resolved.
“It is not ideal, and I think we all had hoped that the new jail would resolve all problems,” Falk said.
“Staffing is still an issue, although that has certainly been improved, but overcrowding is still an issue,” Falk said. “I will continue to monitor this.”
The judge set a telephonic conference status hearing for Aug. 11.
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