Women's work release has been suspended indefinitely, as were all church services and education and alcohol treatment programs at the Kosciusko County Jail due to a breach in security.

Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine said a female awaiting transfer to the Indiana Department of Corrections was able to detour from a church service on Sunday to the cell block where her boyfriend is housed and stayed there until Monday. The male involved also is awaiting transfer to the IDOC. Both were recently sentenced to prison on drug charges.

"Obviously, there was a breach of security and we can't tolerate that," Rovenstine said, adding that he is thankful that nothing more serious happened. "Not that this isn't serious enough," he said, "but our jail officers or other inmates could have been injured."

The breach was discovered after another female inmate reported that the 19-year-old woman mysteriously showed up at a Monday church service after being gone from the women's cell block for quite a while, Rovenstine said.

"We actually can't place her in that cell," Rovenstine said. "We know she was in there, but we can't get anyone to admit it."

Detectives are conferring with the prosecutor to determine whether any charges can be filed against the two. Right now, Rovenstine said, it doesn't appear the teen-ager and her 21-year-old boyfriend committed any criminal act, but they did violate the rules of the jail.

He said it is not known how often such incidents have occurred, but actions are being taken to prevent any such occurrences in the future.

The female inmates in the jail must pass through the men's cell blocks en route to the gym for recreation, special programs and commissary. The women have been warned against fraternizing with the men but, in this case, the female inmate apparently was able to make contact with the males while passing through the hallways.

There are two men's cell blocks located between the women's cell block and the gym at the Kosciusko County Jail.

In this instance, Rovenstine said the door to the cell in the men's block was "pegged" - an item was place in the lock mechanism to prevent the door from being secured while the knob, if tested, appeared to be locked.

Factors contributing to the breach of security, Rovenstine said, included his jail officers failed to do their nightly head count or physical search of the cells. The jail officers on the midnight shift are supposed to go cell-to-cell with a flashlight to make sure each person is in his or her assigned cell.

Rovenstine said it is possible that disciplinary action will be taken against the officers who did not do their duties.

"However," Rovenstine said, "this is no excuse, but the state jail inspector has constantly written us up for being understaffed and we are continually overcrowded." He said jail officers sometimes get busy performing other tasks and are unable to complete the nightly checks.

"If there needs to be discipline, there will be discipline," Rovenstine said.

In addition to this breach, Rovenstine said, "we've uncovered contraband coming in through the female work release."

Women inmates who are granted leave from the jail to continue their employment have been found smuggling cigarettes into the nonsmoking facility. At least two women were caught within the past week bringing cigarettes in by placing them in plastic and concealing them in a body cavity. The contraband was found during strip searches of the females.

Charges of trafficking with an inmate are pending against the women. [[In-content Ad]]