Assistance to help offenders re-enter the community is crucial in lowering repeat crime rates, and preliminary discussions have begun in establishing a transition court for Lake County, a panel indicated on Tuesday. Story in the Post Tribune.

Lake County Criminal Court Judge Salvador Vasquez said the court is in the idea stage, but he plans to study similar courts in Grant and Marion counties to see if one would be beneficial to Lake County.

“What we need through that transition is great supervision,” Vasquez told those gathered at the Lake County Government Center for the panel that included Indiana Department of Correction Commissioner Edwin Buss, Lake County Community Corrections Executive Director Kellie Bittorf and state Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond.

Lawson, a former police officer, is leading a summer study session on public safety issues and community corrections is a topic.

“Our job is not just to put people in jail but to give second opportunities in life,” Lawson said. “We don’t need to keep people in jail that shouldn’t be there.”

About 70 percent of those enrolled in the county’s work-release program are employed and a greater number of offenders are seeking higher education opportunities, Bittorf said.

“They are working to become better people,” she said.

But a main obstacle Bittorf faces is the public perception of the criminal justice system and community corrections. Most of the time she’s working with individuals who committed low-level felonies or are short-term offenders. Lake County also has a Fugitive Recovery Team that tracks down offenders who didn’t return to the program after work instead of merely issuing a warrant for their arrest.

While the jury is still out on how to combat recidivism, the relationship between employment and repeat offenders is key, Buss said.

“The most important thing in re-entry is getting them a job when they get out,” Buss said.

He also spoke about his department’s relationship with Ivy Tech Community College that allows offenders to take college courses while incarcerated and continue with their studies when they are released. Buss said the department is focusing on working with not-for-profits that specialize in getting ex-offenders rehired and is also formulating work opportunities within the Indiana department of Correction.

The department is beginning a program that will employ up to 50 ex-offenders to work in a warehouse responsible for delivering commissary items to jails throughout the state.

“If we know that ex-offenders can make productive citizens, we want to definitely lead in that example,” Buss said. “We want taxpayers. We don’t want tax burdens.”

jchev IN Lake County, Re-Entry

Indiana Department of Corrections Commissioner Ed Buss oversees the state’s prison system, which has 7,500 employees, 21 adult facilities, six juvenile facilities, nine parole districts and 74 counties with community corrections programs. Interview in the Indianapolis Star.

Last month, Buss and Gov. Mitch Daniels announced a partnership with the Pew Center on the States and the Council of State Governments Justice Center to conduct the first comprehensive review of Indiana’s criminal code and sentencing policies since 1976. The study’s goal is to identify ways to manage and reduce the state’s surging prison population, which has increased nearly 20 percent in the last five years.

What do you hope to learn from this new study?
We’ll be able to take a look at the criminal justice system, and we’ll be data-driven in our approach. In my opinion, the problem with our criminal justice system is it’s all anecdotal. You have some crime that is horrendous in a community and then, of course, the lawmakers come back and everything results in a new crime. Just in the last 10 years, there’s been 117 new crimes or enhancements. . . . We haven’t eliminated a crime. We haven’t looked at redundancy. . . . This is significant. I think it’s huge.

One of the problems Gov. Daniels mentioned in unveiling the study is a large number of inmates who are incarcerated in state prisons for a very short time, often less than a month. Do you expect that to be addressed by this study?
We need to look at community-type corrections for those type of individuals. When you think about long-term public safety, making people become law-abiding citizens in a community and having that supervision over them, that serves long-term public safety better than just incarcerating somebody for a period of time and letting them out unsupervised. That’s where we’re missing the boat in Indiana.

How much of an issue is rehabilitating prisoners upon their release?
Substance abuse is a big issue. Roughly 80 percent of law offenders who come into the prison system, if their crimes aren’t drug-related, then they were intoxicated or feeding a drug habit during their criminal offense. And we’ve offered probably the largest substance abuse program in the state of Indiana. But what a lot of people don’t realize is that crime has been decreasing for the last couple of decades each year, yet incarceration rates are going through the roof. In Indiana, . . . we’ve incarcerated 10,000 more inmates in the last decade. What happened was our policies.

You sound hopeful there will be major overhauls as a result of this study?
Given what I know and what I’ve seen other states do — in (places) like Texas, Kansas and South Carolina — I think we have very similar issues that they had when they went through this kind of study, and in looking at their results, and the impact it had on their states, I can only believe Indiana will benefit as well.

The prison population has increased by nearly 20 percent in the last five years, but the state has managed that growth without building any new prison facilities. How much longer can that continue?
We can’t. It’s desperate times. The inmates and the crimes we’re looking at in the Pew study, those are going to be low-level, non-violent criminals. The problem is every year, 400 violent criminals come into our system — murderers, rapists. They’re not going to be affected by the Pew study. We haven’t built a maximum–security bed in roughly 15 years. We have got to build. . . . (W)e need maximum-security cells for some of the most dangerous inmates, and we needed them yesterday.

jchev Indiana

The Indiana Department of Correction, in partnership with the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association, currently provides an automated system to alert residents living near a state correctional facility of public safety emergencies. As of July 1, 2010 this service will be combined with the Department’s victim notification service, Indiana SAVIN. News and registration information from IDOC.

The ALERT Notification Service keeps residents informed of prison escapes as well as any potential environmental hazards. In the event of an escape, all registrants will receive detailed information about the escapee, including a physical description and the time of the escape. The automated calls will also relay specific information on other emergencies that could impact nearby homes.

Residents who sign up for the program will be notified via telephone or email. To be notified of an alert, residents must first register for the service. All individuals who were previously registered with the ALERT notification system will still be registered after July 1 and will continue to receive notifications.

jchev Indiana, Victim Notification Systems

The number of inmates held at the Marion County Jail is leveling off after a surge in average daily population last year, county officials said.The increase, in which the number of inmates climbed past 2,600 a day for two months last year, does not signal a return to the county’s chronic problem of jail crowding, county officials said. News and ADP chart from the IndyStar.

They say that the number of inmates dropped sharply at the beginning of this year and that county judges — whose decisions are critical to keeping jail numbers in check — are doing a better job of limiting how long inmates stay in jail.

“I’m not overly concerned that we’re reaching any problems with overcrowding currently,” Superior Court Judge Steven Eichholtz said. “Our recent numbers have been really pretty good.”

The increase came during a period when the Bureau of Justice Statistics studied jail populations nationwide. The study released last week found that the number of inmates held dropped 2.3 percent from 2008 to 2009 — the first decrease since the agency began compiling the jail data in 1982.

But in Marion County, the study found the inmate population jumped 9 percent in 2009. The county’s four pretrial holding facilities — Marion County Jail, Marion County Jail II, the former lockup in the City-County Building and Liberty Hall — held 2,336 inmates on June 30, 2008, but 2,541 inmates on June 30, 2009, according to the study.

Kevin Murray, the lawyer for Sheriff Frank Anderson, said the increase was part of the growing pains associated with a crop of rookie judges.

Marion County elected six new judges to the bench in 2008. Eight sitting judges moved to different courtrooms when those new judges donned their robes in January 2009.

The county’s criminal court judges are key to controlling jail population because they decide who gets locked up and for how long.

“Whenever there’s a transition and you have a lot of new judges coming in, there’s going to be a learning curve,” Murray said. “By the fall, things had settled down.”

The average daily jail population peaked at 2,622 in March 2009 but remained below 2,300 from December through April, according to figures supplied by the Sheriff’s Department. The average daily population for May — the last month for which complete figures are available — was 2,382.

Despite last year’s increase in jail population, The American Civil Liberties Union of Indianapolis, whose 1972 lawsuit brought the jail under federal oversight for 35 years, doesn’t believe crowding has re-emerged as a concern.”We’re not really getting any complaints from Marion County,” said Ken Falk, legal director for the ACLU in Indianapolis.

Jail crowding is a politically touchy subject for Marion County, which remained under federal court order to improve jail conditions until U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker closed the case in 2007. For decades, county leaders struggled with how to limit jail population while inmates slept on plastic cots and judges fretted over whether to free inmates who might go on to commit violent crimes.

The county has since built the Arrestee Processing Center, which was designed to eliminate long stays for those accused of minor offenses. The center has a court that operates on nights and weekends, which gives the newly arrested a chance to post bond.

The court also implemented a new bond matrix, which looks at a person’s criminal history, employment and family ties and gives judges a yardstick to help them decide how high they should set a defendant’s bond.

Judge Eichholtz said the county has not returned to the crowded conditions that led to the civil rights complaints in the federal lawsuit.

“We’ve reviewed our bond matrix to make sure people are not being held on high bonds for minor offenses,” Eichholtz said. “The jail numbers have been pretty consistent, but length of stay has gone down consistently for all courts. That means we’re holding more people, but for fewer days.”

Eichholtz likened jail management to monitoring tables at a restaurant or rooms in a hotel.

“It’s all about turnover,” he said. “You always have to be careful, making sure you are evaluating, holding the right people and releasing the right people.”

jchev IN Marion County, Overcrowding, Prison Population

Don’t expect any additional inmates in the Fountain County Jail in the near future. Sheriff Bobby Bass told the Fountain County Commissioners Monday that the Indiana Department of Corrections has turned down the request for “double bunking”. Reported by Commercial-News.

Bass said that he is contacting federal authorities in Washington about doing assessments on the needs of the county jail.

Lee W. Hoard, jail inspector for the north region of the Indiana Department of Corrections, said in a letter to county officials that he “would not, at this time, recommend any increase in offender population.”

Hoard said the jail is not required to follow the American Correction Association Standards for Adult Correctional Facilities since it was built prior to Jan. 1, 1982, but he had reservations about increasing the number.

“There are currently three visitation booths and jail staff report that with the current capacity at 25 inmates, it takes all the time between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to get visits completed,” he said. “To add additional officers may require a modification of the visitation period and possibly additional staff.”

He said the cells and cell blocks do not meet current ACA standards.

“It should be noted that with the current design of the jail and the number of inmates currently present, jail personnel cannot adequately classify the offenders as required by the Indiana jail standards,” Hoard said. “Other concerns are the size of the current kitchen, number of staff to supervise offenders, limited space for indoor/outdoor recreation and limited dining areas for the offenders.”

The commissioners did not comment.

jchev Indiana, Jail and Prison Construction

Over the past few weeks, inmates throughout the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) have been raising money for an extraordinary cause, the Wee Ones Nursery program located inside the walls of the Indiana Women’s Prison (IWP). Report from the Indiana Department of Corrections.

The Wee Ones Nursery Program (WON) is a voluntary program offered at IWP to eligible pregnant offenders with the intent of providing parenting education and to ensure quality time to strengthen the mother-infant bond during the initial months after the infant’s birth. For funding, the WON program currently relies on grants and donations.

When facilities throughout the state were asked to send donations to help the program, the response was incredible. Almost half of IDOC facilities have sent in money and supplies. Within the first week, the amount totaled over $4000. Currently, over $5,660 has been collected, with more continuing to pour in.

All of the funds donated were raised through offender fundraisers, ranging from cash donations to food sales. IDOC Staff helped oversee the fundraisers, but the money came directly from the offenders themselves.

Among the facilities that have donated are: the Correctional Industrial Facility, Indian State Prison, Edinburgh, Madison, Miami, Pendleton, Plainfield, Putnamville, Wabash Valley, and Westville Correctional Facilities. Staff at the Reception Diagnostic Center, IDOC’s male intake unit, have also collected baby food, diapers, clothing and cash donations.

In addition to the money already collected, an additional $1000-$1,500 is anticipated to come from fundraisers at the Indianapolis Re-Entry Educational Facility, Branchville, and South Bend Juvenile Correctional Facilities.

“Giving selflessly to others is an important lesson and component of an offender’s rehabilitation. Every year, our offenders donate their time and money to various charities and organizations in the communities outside of prison walls. It is an extraordinary opportunity to see offenders taking the initiative to raise money for an equally unique and wonderful offender program.”

The WON program began at IWP in early 2008 for eligible pregnant offenders. Since its inception, over 30 infants and their mothers have enjoyed the benefits of the Wee Ones Nursery. Earlier this year the WON program received donations from members of the Indiana General Assembly at a baby shower hosted by the Women’s Caucus, POWER (Political Organization for Women’s Education and Representation) group.

jchev Indiana, Inmate Programs

The Harrison County Sheriff’s Department recently shipped all of its state prisoners out of the jail and back to the Indiana Department of Corrections because, as Capt. Eric Fischer reported to the board of commissioners last week, the jail was overcrowded. News from the Corydon Democrat.

This seems strange, since the jail has consistently been overcrowded or well-above capacity for some time, and, in fact, still is.

The jail’s capacity is 152 prisoners, and, after the state violators left, it now houses approximately 165.

Housing state prisoners is strictly voluntary but is something the county has done for some time. Each state prisoner brings in about $36 per day to the county. The money goes directly into the county’s general fund, where it can be requested by any county government department or agency and approved by, first, the commissioners and then the county council.

Over time, housing state prisoners can be quite lucrative for the county.

Sheriff G. Michael Deatrick said, in 2007, while defending the use of overtime in the jail, that housing state prisoners brings in about $450,000 per year.

But, for now, it seems that money will no longer be available for the county, which is a shame, since it was always a point of pride for the jail and sheriff’s department, not to mention a large amount of cash for the county to spend on any department.

The housing of state prisoners was often a way for council members to justify approving additional appropriations for the department; now, sheriff’s department representatives won’t have that luxury when they step before the board of commissioners or council to ask for funding.

This funding is especially needed in the current economic climate, with schools dropping staff all across the state and every department feeling the pinch.

The jail likely could function better with less inmates, but if it has managed with the extra prisoners in the past, why not continue to try to make it work?

If at all possible, the sheriff’s department should take advantage of the opportunity to house the prisoners and bring in some extra cash.

The county definitely could use the money, but, maybe even more importantly, positive vibes out of the sheriff’s department are needed now more than ever.

jchev Budgets, IN Harrison County, Overcrowding

The Clark County Commissioners recently approved exploring the option of eliminating the county’s work-release program, but the program’s director doesn’t believe that’s a good idea fiscally. News from the News and Tribune.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Department receives $35 per day for each state prisoner it houses at the county jail and it is looking into the possibility of adding inmates to the third floor of the county building that currently houses the work-release inmates. But in order to add the new state inmates, the space would have to be cleared of the work-release program, which occupied the newly renovated $3 million space in 2008.

According to Steve Mason, director of Clark County work-release program, eliminating the county’s work-release program would cost the county money. Clark County receives about $700,000 from Indiana’s Department of Corrections each year in the form of a grant to operate the work-release locally.

While no determination on cutting the program has been made, a decision is likely before the grant runs out June 30 and would have to be renewed. If the county does not apply for the grant, the money would likely go to another county still operating a work-release program.

In addition to losing out on grant money, according to Mason, the program saves the county thousands.

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
Over a two-year span, Clark County Community Corrections collected nearly $650,000, reduced the county jail’s operating expenses by more than $800,000 and the state’s by more than $1.2 million, he said.

It costs the state $52.60 per day to hold an inmate at a state facility, $35 for the county and $15.50 per day is paid by the participants of the work-release program. By having the inmates participate in the local program, essentially the higher cost is avoided because the prisoners would otherwise be shuffled back to the state or county jail.

“We save the county money, we don’t cost the county a thing,” Mason said. “It’s cheaper for the state to give us money rather than have them housed at their facility.”

In addition, the work release program pays the jail $70,000 in rent per year — $60,000 in utility bills and an additional $10,000 in supplemental jail maintenance and employee salaries.

During the last two years, the work-release program has housed 265 inmates, who are normally nonviolent offenders or near the end of their sentences.

The participants in the work-release program are normally recommended by a judge or prosecutor to the program, which acts as a transition for the prisoners to rejoin the community and includes providing them with a job.

While the statistics on recidivism rates are not yet available for Clark County — they are determined every three years — Kenneth Whipker, executive liaison of sheriff and county jail operations for the Department of Correction, said its more beneficial to keep offenders local — and it’s cheaper.

The rationale for looking into replacing the program with state inmates is money, and by opening up the space for state inmates, the county hopes to address the revenue shortfalls that have been hampering the county.

“To make profit over the money generated by the work release program, the jail would have to house 44 state inmates, every day of the year, at $35 per inmate before Clark County Government generated a penny in profit,” Mason said in an e-mail.

According to Clark County Sheriff Danny Rodden, the jail is housing 90 inmates from the state.

By multiplying the number of inmates currently held by the per-day-rate — if they were held for every day of the year — the county would receive about $1.1 million annually.

However, there is an operations cost of housing the additional inmates of between $300,000 to $400,000, which would bring the revenues received down to around $750,000.

If the third-floor of the jail were converted to house more inmates, the number that could be accommodated would increase by 125 individuals, Rodden said. Increasing the number of inmates to the maximum 125, the revenue grows to more than $2.7 million.

But again, operational costs would rise when adding inmates to the county facility, cutting into the revenues.

MORE TO COME?
The larger issue may be that the state may not be providing the county with any additional inmates.

“[It is] very unlikely Clark County would be able to house additional inmates,” Whipker said. “We need the beds that the [Sheriff] provides for us, but to add additional beds, that’s just not going to happen.”

Like most other government entities, the state is trying to mitigate its costs and the fewer inmates sent to other counties the less money the state has to pay out.

“I don’t see changes in our budget that would continue to allow for that,” Whipker said of sending more state inmates to county jails.

Rodden said he is aware that the state is trying to limit the prisoners it sends to other facilities, but the amount of prisoners the state has still overwhelms the system and overcrowding is a problem that may persist.

“It’s up in the air,” he said of receiving more state inmates.

He added that the state is cutting back at facilities that do not offer programs for prisoners, where Clark County does so, and even if the state limits the number of prisoners, Rodden may seek to house federal inmates in the county facility.

JOB TO MOVE?
One area that would likely be cut should the work release program be eliminated is payroll.

It is likely many of the jobs of community corrections — which are funded by the state grant — will go with the elimination of the program.

Rodden said that he would look to hire additional staff from the community corrections workers, giving them the first opportunity at the jobs — which would be part of the county payroll — but the amount of workers needed would be about nine employees.

The Clark County Community Corrections at its current staffing levels includes eight part-time and 22 full-time employees.

“I need the Sheriff to run our program,” Mason said. “I need to work with him, [but] what you’re going to lose to gain that $35, it just doesn’t add up.”

SO YOU KNOW
Total savings to the county and Indiana Department of Correction (instead of housing work-release inmates in county/state jail):

• County: $811,615
• IDOC: $1,219,741
• Amount collected from successful clients of work-release: $277,622
• Amount collected from unsuccessful clients of work-release: $77,253
• Amount paid per day by work-release inmates: $15.50
• Amount paid per day by state to house state prisoners: $35

Note: Figures from Jan. 1, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2009

jchev IN Clark County, Work Release

More than 500 people are participating in Tippecanoe County’s Community Corrections programs.  The new Director, Dave Heath, is making some changes.

With the economy, Dave Heath, said he’s had to relax a requirement that participants find work within a certain time frame.  At the same, Heath said he has to enforce collections of a $100 fee from program participants.

“That is so they basically don’t get into a hole.  If somebody comes in here on work release and they don’t have a job, and they are going to go out everyday and look for a job, if they haven’t paid anything, they already started at a deficit,” said Heath.

Dave Heath said correction programs which include house arrest, work release, day reporting and road crew are financed by those fees.  But, the department has racked up more than $2.5 million in unpaid fees over the past 10 years.

“$1.8 million has been turned over to collections.  The collection agency is actively trying to collect those and the balance of that we have not turned over to collections yet.  We are trying to collect it ourselves,” said Heath.

Heath said some family members pay the fees for participants who can’t afford them.  James Fisher is on work release and said his steady job allows him to cover the cost.

“This program is great.  It really is.  I don’t even know where to begin when I tell you about it.  The staff is just wonderful.  They go out of their way to help out, get you started on the things you need to get started on, especially substance abuse programs,” said Fisher.

Fisher said thanks to the program his life is back on track.   Unlike Fisher, Heath said many people in work release are struggling to find jobs.

“The policy in years past was you need to find a job in 2 weeks or 30 days whatever it may be.  Well, realistically, that may not be enough time now because of the tough job market out there.  We haven’t enforced that because it’s just going to take longer to find jobs,” said Heath.

Heath said about 30% of those on work release are currently unemployed.

jchev Community Corrections, IN Tippecanoe County

Allen County officials might have finally found a place to house offenders released early from state prisons. News from the Journal Gazette.

Sheila Hudson, Community Corrections director, would like to house 200 offenders in the vacant Quality Inn at 3330 Coliseum Blvd. W.

To make that happen, the Indiana Department of Correction has supplied $775,000 for one year. The Allen County commissioners approved an agreement with the state Friday to accept the money.

The state has previously given the county money so it can offer housing to returning offenders, and Hudson has an additional $650,000 left to add to the mix, she said.

She is planning a $2.6 million budget to operate the hotel for offenders, including the daily fees that offenders would pay. She does not plan to seek additional funds from the Allen County Council.

The intent behind transitional housing is to ease offenders back into the community while offering support programs, all under the intensive watch of the local courts. Community Corrections already serves returning state prisoners through the county’s Re-Entry Court program, but many offenders don’t participate because they don’t have reliable housing.

State and local officials have discussed providing transitional housing for prisoners in Allen County since 2007. Previously, officials considered constructing a facility across from the Allen County Jail downtown to provide a home for returning offenders.

That idea was panned because of its proximity to Headwaters Park and was seen as deterrent to downtown development. A lack of funding also hampered the project.

Hudson said the hotel site could also house low-level offenders who serve their sentences through Allen County Work Release. Work release houses offenders in a wing of the Byron Health Center at Carroll and Lima roads and allows them to leave detention for work.

Sheriff Ken Fries required work-release participants to have valid driver’s licenses after a participant was killed walking to work along Lima Road.

That change has significantly reduced the number of filled beds at the center. The hotel site is closer to public transportation, Commissioner Nelson Peters said.

Commissioner Bill Brown said the site is a great location for such a program.

Hudson said she and Superior Court Judge John Surbeck have worked with local investor Jerry Henry for the past six months to find a suitable location to house offenders. They, along with Department of Correction staff, have visited a dozen sites since then.

Henry has proposed buying the hotel and leasing it to the county for no more than $500,000 a year. But the purchase isn’t final and the lease terms could be negotiated, Hudson said.

In a letter to Surbeck, Henry said it would cost $9 million to buy and renovate the building to meet the Department of Correction’s specifications.

That work includes securing windows, adding security checkpoints and cameras, filling in the pool, adding office space and a courtroom. The fully equipped kitchen would be used to prepare meals for the offenders, Hudson said.

The hotel, owned by Orite Hotels of Indiana, closed unexpectedly in 2008 and remains vacant. For the past two years, the hotel was among the top 10 delinquent property-tax payers. In October, the hotel’s owners paid its taxes in full, Treasurer Sue Orth said.

jchev Community Corrections, IN Allen County

The first walls are up in the Jay County jail expansion, a project that’s been in the making for eight years. Story in Newslink Indiana.

The Portland jail has been experiencing over crowding for some time now and has been operating much of the time at maximum capacity. However, once the new expansion project is completed the Portland jail should no longer have a problem with housing prisoners.

The old jail had the capacity to hold about 30 to 40 prisoners and the new facility will allow up to 120 cell blocks. There will also be cameras installed in each cell to provide constant supervision.

Along with cameras, according to site manager Jeff Bladder, this jail will feature a central control room that offers a 360-degree view of all the cells from one place.

“The person in the central control can look both up and down to observe at all times the prisoners. That is a very cost effective of doing supervision and in a jail the supervision and labor costs is the number one expense in a jail,” Bladder said.

According to Bladder, in terms of square feet, the current jail is about 14,000, the new expansion will provide 25,000 square feet of additional space.

After the expansion is completed, the next step will involve the remodeling of the old county jail. The new cell blocks should be completed by next fall and the entire project should be finished in late winter of 2011.

The project is currently on schedule and under budget.

jchev Indiana, Jail and Prison Construction, Overcrowding

Indiana has a prison problem. It’s not new. It’s just something that continues to be ignored. Story in the Post-Tribune.

And it is something that Edwin Buss, the commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction, is addressing.

“Every murderer or armed robber sentenced today has no bed waiting for them,” Buss told the Journal-Gazette of Fort Wayne a couple weeks ago. “It hasn’t had a traumatic effect yet, but I liken prison overcrowding to playing Russian roulette.”

Indiana has 27,300 men and women behind bars. That number grows between 1,000 and 1,200 each year.

In the first half of 2009, Indiana’s prisons had 514 inmate-on-inmate attacks, 62 of which caused serious injuries. That compares with 719 such attacks, 101 with serious injuries, during all of 2008.

And the attacks on the prison staff are on the increase.

There essentially are two answers to the problem — build more prisons or release the minor offenders. Even when the state was flush with money, there was little enthusiasm for building new prisons. With today’s tight economic conditions, there is virtually no push for the construction of new facilities. There is a reluctance to build even though prison officials said the recent escape of three inmates from the state prison at Michigan City occurred, in part, because it is such an aging facility.

There are a couple of reasons why there are more inmates. Through a variety of federal spending programs, there are more police officers on our streets. And there is more law enforcement emphasis on narcotics.

Elected officials, particularly those in the General Assembly, take pride in the laws they have passed calling for mandatory penalties for some offenses — particularly those involving narcotics. It’s time they revisit those laws as well as turn attention to community corrections as an alternative to prison.

jchev Indiana, Overcrowding

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Department of Correction expects to gain more than 2,000 beds for inmates by shifting prison programs and inmates to different locations. Story from Chicago Tribune.

Female youth offenders will move from Indianapolis to Madison in southeastern Indiana. Adult females in the Indiana Women’s Prison near downtown Indianapolis will be moved to the former juvenile facility. And the Plainfield Re-entry Educational Facility will move its mission to the women’s prison.

About 440 correction workers will be affected. Officials say they will have the opportunity to apply for revamped jobs, although some may have to relocate or be retrained.

Officials say the shifts will save space and money, but it won’t help Indiana’s shortage of maximum security beds.

jchev Indiana, Overcrowding

A new medical clinic at the Allen County IN Jail has inmates getting more effective care than ever before, and as NewsChannel 15 found it’s also saving the county money.  Watch the video (after a 10 sec intro).

The county used about fifty-thousand dollars in federal grant money to renovate the jail’s old kitchen into a one room clinic. Before the 19 people that make up the medical staff worked on three different floors and several different rooms in the jail.  “The efficiency has greatly increased,” said Director of Health Services Pam Thornton. “We’re able to talk with each other right away about issues before we were on different floors.” The staff includes one doctor, 11 nurses, a qualified medication aide, a clerk and a paramedic. As a team, they see 20 to 30 inmates a day for health issues ranging from diabetes to wound care.

The greatest cost saver of the new clinic is the inmates’ dental bills, though. Before the new clinic opened, ten to 15 patients a week had to be driven to a private dentist for any and all complaints. Now, an onsite doctor that is a dentist as well can offer care, lowering the cost,  and cutting man power used for the transport. Jail officials estimate the dental program has saved three to five thousand dollars since it was implemented in March. In years past, the sheriff’s department spent about 60 to 70 thousand dollars per year on dental alone. If the savings continue like they have for the first quarter of the clinic, it will save the county around 12 to 15 thousand dollars a year.

Inmates do have to cover some of their healthcare costs. Thornton said the medical clinic charge $15 for a requested office visit, as opposed to a mandated visit, and $10 for a prescription. Inmates’ families and friends can deposit that money into an account for the inmate … The yearly budget for healthcare at the jail is almost $900 thousand. That does not include staff salaries. Jail officials say about half the budget goes to pay for prescription drugs.

jakking Economic Issues, IN Allen County, Indiana, Inmate Health Care, Inmate Lawsuits

The Bartholomew County IN sheriff is utilizing unemployed ex-offenders to help with community cleanup projects, according to the IndyChannel.

Felons on probation or house arrest are being assigned to jail work crews three days a week to help with jobs like picking up roadside trash …  “You know, the economy is bad. They don’t have jobs,” said Bartholomew County Sheriff Mark Gorbett. “They have fines to pay and things like that, but at least they’re out here now doing something. If they can’t find a job, they’re picking up trash, at least helping put back into the community.” Officials said it’s also an effort to help the community and motivate ex-offenders to find jobs.”We have some who would just rather sit at home and do nothing and they’re not out even looking for a job,” said Rob Gaskill with Bartholomew County Community Corrections.

jakking IN Bartholomew County, Inmate Labor

Indianapolis officials on Monday unveiled their plans for spending $6.4 million in stimulus money earmarked for law enforcement activities, according to the Indianapolis Star.

About $2.7 million would be spent on improvements to the criminal justice system, including $1.3 million to upgrade the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s automated fingerprinting system.  Another $1.5 million would go to employment and prisoner re-entry programs, including $904,000 to place 200 ex-convicts into temporary jobs at the Indianapolis Department of Public Works …

Marion County is proposing to spend $1.2 million on juvenile justice programs, including building two new juvenile reception centers to beef up the services and supervision for young offenders. The county plans to spend $580,000 on a nurse and substance abuse services for Community Corrections inmates; $118,000 on training programs for the Indianapolis Fire Department and Community Corrections staff; and $319,000 to contract with a grant manager.

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From the Chicago Tribune:

Gov. Mitch Daniels has appointed former state Sen. Greg Server of Evansville as the new chairman of the Indiana Parole Board.   Server joins the parole board on May 18 and replaces retiring board Chairman Christopher Meloy.  The five-member parole board weighs all Indiana capital cases and recommends to the governor whether to accept condemned inmates’ requests for clemency or commutation. The panel also oversees inmate paroles, including taking action if a former inmate violates his or her parole.

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A projected increase in new violent felons and already overcrowded prisons have put Indiana in desperate need of more cell space for maximum security inmates, state Department of Correction officials said Thursday.

Correction Commissioner Edwin Buss told the Senate Appropriations Committee that hundreds of new violent offenders — including murderers, rapists and robbers — are expected to be sent to state prisons by the end of 2011, but space to appropriately imprison them is maxed out.   Buss said the state last built a new prison in 2001, and the last maximum security prison was built in 1991. Yet he said the number of inmates has grown by about 4 percent annually, and more than 100 new crimes or enhanced sentences have been enacted by the General Assembly since 1990.   “So it should be of no surprise that we stand here today asking for prison expansion,” Buss told the panel.

Though Gov. Mitch Daniels has proposed a two-year state budget that would cut most agency budgets by 8 percent and hold the line on education and state police spending, he does want money to expand two prisons.   Daniels wants lawmakers to approve $40 million in bonding authority to expand the Miami Correctional Facility near Peru and the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility near Sullivan. Each would add about 600 beds, and the state would make $3 million in annual bond payments.   The department also is seeking $60 million in new spending for operating costs over the next two years to cover a projected increase in inmates. About 28,000 people are in the department’s custody now, but that is expected to climb to more than 32,000 by fiscal year 2011.

House Democrats have questioned whether prison expansion should be a priority, especially since Daniels’ proposed budget would effectively freeze funding for public schools at current levels and cut spending for higher education. Some Democrats say more emphasis should be placed on alternative sentencing.  But Buss said Indiana was not a “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” state. Indiana imprisons about 57 people out of every 10,000 adults. Of Indiana’s four surrounding states, only Illinois has a lower rate.

There is more detail in the Chicago Tribune article.

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The New York Times‘ Green Inc blog recently published an interesting survey of environmental projects within the corrections’ industry.  A sample:

Instead of reporting to the laundry or the kitchen or the boiler room, a Washington state prison inmate may report to the compost heap [if they are] taking part in a “green work” program at the Cedar Creek Corrections Center. Inmates grow organic produce, compost the prison’s food waste, take part in ecological research projects with a nearby university, and even produce honey from the prison’s own hives.  The Washington State Department of Corrections boasts 34 LEED-certified facilities, with 923,789 square feet of LEED-certified space added in fiscal year 2008 alone …

This fall, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced 16 new green retrofitting projects, which they estimate will save $3 million in energy costs each year. The state already has solar power fields at two facilities, and plans to build six more in the coming year. A new $176 million juvenile detention facility in Alameda County — home to Berkeley and Oakland — recently became the country’s first jail to receive LEED gold certification.  Other green projects — from wind turbines to biomass boilers — have been announced by Departments of Corrections in Virginia, Nevada, and Indiana…

Ken Ricci, of Ricci Greene Associates, is currently working on a new $120 million detention center in downtown Denver, which the company plans to submit for LEED certification. “There’s a recognition that sustainable, or ‘green’ design, is actually a plus for a population that’s confined 24 hours a day,” Mr. Ricci said. “Environment cues behavior. If you treat people like animals, they behave like animals.”  Mr. Ricci … says design elements that earn LEED points, like daylighting and access to views, also improve security. “If you treat them like human beings — that is to say, there’s daylight coming in, the noise level is at a normative level — therefore your adrenaline level goes down, therefore your stress level goes down, the inmates feel safer.”

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Several months after it was eliminated by the state of Indiana, Porter County officials have come up with a plan to reintroduce a jail booking fee that has funded a successful drug and alcohol program for inmates.  As reported by the NWTimes.

The proposal calls for again charging the $25 fee of everyone booked at the county jail, but returning the money to anyone found not guilty or whose charges are dismissed, County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger said … The state did away with the booking fee last summer on the grounds it was not fair, Porter County Commissioner Bob Harper said when the issue surfaced during a meeting in December … Rinkenberger said she disagrees with the state’s ability to eliminate the former version of the fee. She believes the county was within its rights to collect a fee to cover the cost of booking anyone at the jail, despite the outcome of cases.

The move left the county with a diminishing amount of money for the intensive outpatient treatment program provided for inmates by Porter-Starke Services … Until the revamped fee can be approved, the commissioners will dedicate $30,000 to $40,000 of county income tax revenue to keep the inmate treatment program alive, Harper said.  The treatment program costs the county $120,000 a year, Porter County Sheriff David Lain said.

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