Overcrowding puts Marion County Jail in 'crisis mode'

The Marion County Jail has more inmates than beds, an overcrowding problem that officials say will only get worse in the summer when crime tends to spike.

The county's fix so far:  Paying other counties to house defendants in their jails, a costly temporary solution that could rack up thousands of dollars if it continues long term.

The jail is in "crisis mode," Marion County Sheriff Col. Louis Dezelan said.

In recent months, the jail would have surpassed  maximum capacity had the Marion County Sheriff's Office not moved inmates to Elkhart County and to jails in Kentucky, officials said.

Law enforcement leaders in Marion County and some City-County Council members met Monday afternoon to discuss the problem they say stems from rising violent crime in the city and a state law that diverts low-level offenders from state prisons to county jails. No long-term solutions were proposed, but jail officials say they are searching for a local space to rent for inmate overflow.

Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry questioned whether the group should talk about an emergency proposal that would allow some inmates to be released early, but the idea was set aside with little discussion.

The jail overcrowding comes amid bursts of violent crime throughout the city following its deadliest year on record for criminal homicides, racking up 144 deaths in 2015. The problem also comes after the City-County Council last year killed a plan for a new Marion County criminal justice center, which would have consolidated the Marion County Jail's three detention centers under one roof in a new facility with more beds overall.

Overcrowding is an issue Marion County has encountered before. In 2007, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed 35 years before,  when inmates alleged poor conditions in the jail, largely due to overcrowding. The judge ordered the city and county to band together to solve the overcrowding problem.

As of Monday the Marion County Jail is responsible for 2,529 inmates, yet its three facilities hold only 2,507 inmates. And, officials say, ideally, they would operate the facilities well under maximum capacity.

So the Sheriff's Office is paying other counties to hold 54 inmates — at a cost of $40 per inmate per day, not including transportation. That fix created 32 free beds across the three facilities, which still leaves the jail at more than 95 percent capacity.

"If you send 100 inmates a year (to other counties), that is well over a million dollars," Dezelan said at an April 26 meeting of the Criminal Justice Planning Council, a group of local law enforcement leaders chaired by Curry. "We don't have that money budgeted."

Dezelan said the number of inmates booked in the Arrestee Processing Center is rising this year.

In April, on average, Dezelan said, 124 inmates per day were processed. In the same time period in 2015, he said, there were 104 inmates per day processed.

Dezelan said the Sheriff's Office is looking into renting beds at Liberty Hall, a local facility that offers work-release programs for male offenders re-entering the community. He said that housing inmates in Elkhart is a "logistical nightmare."

Officials at the meeting asked whether some defendants could be diverted to community corrections, where they would await trial on electronic home monitoring rather than in jail. But a representative from Marion County Community Corrections said the agency has its own resource limitations.

Marion County Sheriff John Layton said he has had conversations with local judges about releasing inmates early but does not want to take that measure.

"The judges daily go over their lists to see, 'Who can I let out?'" Layton said. "Most of those lists contain no one they could actually let out of jail without a substantial risk to the public."

Some council members at the meeting said they had no appetite for funding additional beds for the jail as a long- or short-term solution.

"I want to hear more about systematic policy changes first," said council member Leroy Robinson, who represents District 1.

Layton attributed some of the spike in inmates to House Enrolled Act 1006, which reduced sentences for some low-level offenders. Offenders who would have served a sentence for a Level 6 felony in a state prison are now serving the time in local jails. There are about 136 such offenders in the Marion County Jail. The state covers some of the funding for these offenders.

Curry, though, said those offenders the jail is responsible for should eventually level off. He said the majority of the increase in inmates stems from a surge in crime in the city, and many individuals in the jail under HEA 1006 are serving a sentence of one year or less.

When Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Troy Riggs stepped into his role earlier this year, he compiled a list of 1,400 people wanted on assault or weapons warrants that he said police would focus on for arrest, one part of a plan to curb gun violence in the city.

"Marion County is experiencing what every urban area in the country is experiencing: an uptick in violent crime," Curry said. "Police agencies and prosecutors are acting accordingly."

Call IndyStar reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter: @Mabuckley88.