The jail population at the Marshall County Jail continues to be high with over 240 inmates as of Monday morning. Sheriff Matt Hassel previously said the jail has about 239 beds.
The sheriff told the Marshall County Commissioners Monday morning that he retrieved intergovernmental agreements from Fulton County and Miami County for review by the commissioners and County Attorney Jim Clevenger to create an agreement between Marshall County and Elkhart County. Elkhart County is the only facility that the county is able to house extra inmates. Hassel said he’s going to reach out to St. Joseph County and Starke County to enter into similar agreements.
A daily rate will also need to be entered into the document.
The sheriff commended the Marshall County Prosecutor’s Office for their pre-trial efforts to try and move people out of the jail, but most of the population in the jail is awaiting resolution of their cases and cannot afford to bond out of jail.
(032019 hassel 1…13 sec) “There’s a lot of jails that are getting overcrowded, but some of them are because of the Level 6 felons that we’re housing for DOC. That’s not our issue. Our issue is the pre-trial. I think my last count last week for the Level 6 felons – we only had 14.”
A meeting in the Fall between all law enforcement and court officials indicated that there could be discussions on adding a court, but nothing is official yet.
