Indiana Sheriffs Want Higher Per Diem From State For Housing Felons

The Indiana Sheriff's Association is asking lawmakers to approve more money for county jails holding Indiana Department of Corrections prisoners.

A pod inside the Dearborn County Law Enforcement Center. File photo.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) – It has been three decades since Indiana changed the amount the state pays to county jails for holding convicted low-level felons.

After criminal code reform approved by state lawmakers in 2015, county jails began holding more inmates convicted of level 6 felonies.

The number of level 6 felons in county jails has increased about 37 percent in the last year, putting an extra burden on county jails already at or near capacity.

Now, the Indiana Sheriff’s Association is asking state lawmakers to up the state payment to counties from $35 per day up to $55.  Sheriffs say they need more state money to cover the costs of holding those low-level felons in their county jails.

Hendricks County Sheriff Brett Clark told the state legislature's interim study committee on corrections and criminal code that the figure is based on the sheriffs association’s research of rates in other states and the federal government.

"The cost of housing and putting persons in jail as far as food and gas for transportation and just the staff that it takes to man some of the mental illness folks that we're having to deal with, some of the drug addictions that we're seeing that we didn't have 30 years ago necessarily to the degree that we do today, are a real challenge," said Clark.

Dearborn County Sheriff Mike Kreinhop told Dearborn County Council last month that the jail it holding about 60 inmates belonging to the Indiana Department of Corrections.

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