Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
When the Kosciusko County Jail began operation at its current location in 1982, officers walked the less than 20 inmates from the old jail to the new one.
Today, there is an average of 125 inmates housed at the jail, which was originally designed for a maximum capacity of 64 inmates and, with double bunking in many cells and relaxed federal standards, is allowed as many as 98 prisoners. Another 27 inmates usually occupy the Work Release Center. Recently, an all-time high of 162 inmates was recorded as incarcerated at the jail for one day.
Kosciusko County Sheriff Al Rovenstine said there is no question that the county needs more space in its jail.
Rovenstine said the county is aware of the problem, but pointed out overcrowded conditions are not unique to Kosciusko County. Statewide, Rovenstine said, county jails are holding an estimated 1,200 prisoners for the Indiana Department of Corrections. While the state is looking to build an 800-bed facility to help relieve this pressure, it is not a solution that will help for long.
"We foresee no let-up in the number of people coming into the jail," Rovenstine said. He attributes the continued increase in numbers of people being jailed, in part, to societal demands.
For instance, he said, when the Mothers Against Drunk Drivers program got a strong foothold, he began seeing a larger number of drunk driving offenders receiving jail time. In the past, he said, such offenses required little more than a fine before the arrested individual was on his way.
Also, legislation is being considered to lower the age of a minor from 18 to 16 to allow juvenile offenders to be placed in county jails. This would affect the numbers not only locally, but statewide, because of increasing juvenile involvement in crimes. Currently, county jails cannot legally detain anyone under age 18 unless he is waived from the juvenile jurisdiction into adult court.
In an attempt to address the issue of jail overcrowding, a study group comprising two county council members, a commissioner, Judge Rex Reed and Rovenstine was recently formed.
Luckily, Rovenstine said, the cramped quarters have not led to many fights or flaring tempers. "We have been very fortunate," he said, given the conditions. He said he has spent time talking with inmates and "I let them know that we don't like it any better than they do."
That isn't to say there aren't behavioral problems among the incarcerated. Recently, two cell blocks were locked down after fighting broke out among inmates, who were unusually crowded. A ceiling replacement project has forced more inmates into already crowded cell blocks while work is completed in the areas where they are normally housed. To help alleviate this problem, Rovenstine said he authorized the release of several inmates completing weekend jail time on Saturday night instead of Sunday morning.
"The county will have to address the problem (of overcrowding)," Rovenstine said, and that will likely require building additional space not just in the jail itself, but also in the office area and the kitchen. "We have outgrown everything," he said.
How big should the jail be? Rovenstine said he doesn't know. When the jail was constructed in 1980-81, growth projections placed it at capacity in 2000. However, the Kosciusko County Jail has operated over capacity for more than two years, Rovenstine said. Although the jail is inspected by officials from the DOC twice yearly and the reports always note the overcrowding, nothing has been done, he said.
In 1982, 1,625 inmates were booked into the jail through the course of the year. The jail has already surpassed that number this year, with 1,866 bookings recorded as of this morning.
In 1995, 3,270 people were booked into the jail, an increase of 16.79 percent over 1994 when 2,721 prisoners were booked. The numbers have steadily climbed over the years, except for 1993, when the prisoner total was 3.46 percent less than that of 1992 and in 1987, when there were 8.65 percent fewer inmates than 1986.
The largest annual increase was noted in 1985, when the number of bookings rose to 2,129 from 1,734 in 1984.
