With jail overcrowding concerns at the forefront of many minds in Marshall County, it should come as no surprise that statics presented during November’s joint session between County Council members and commissioners showed a need for additional space.
Dustin Frye and Eric Weflan, officials from the architecture firm RQAW highlighted a number of stats that emphasized the importance of expansion, “Some numbers that are important to keep in mind; you have an existing rated capacity of right now 239. That means you have an existing classification threshold of 191.”
Since not everyone in attendance was familiar with what classification meant in regards to the jail population, additional details were provided, “You have different types of population, if you will. The obvious one is males and females, we can’t intermix those. Within those populations, there are violent offenders and non violent offenders, there are different types of crimes being committed.”
The explanation continued, “We want to classify that population so we don’t want to intermix individuals who shouldn’t be together. It can be as simple as people who committed crimes together or family members or in some counties it’s gang members, things like that.”
To address why capacity is looked at in that way the concept was expanded upon a little more, “What we have as a basis, in that regard is that you’re technically full, if you’re properly classifying, at 80 percent of your rated capacity.”
It was further explained, “So ideally, in order to give your facility the best opportunity to properly classify and enhance safety of the individuals that are housed there and the staff, the most you would have at a rated capacity of 239 is 191.”
Commissioner Stan Klotz inquired about the source for that information. It was noted that those figures and guidelines about classification and capacity are based off of feedback from law enforcement officials such as state jail inspectors and representatives from Indiana Sheriff’s Association.
The presentation continued and it was noted that the average population of the Marshall County Jail in 2019 is around 244. However, they cited that around 272 were at the facility as of November 21st.
With those numbers in mind, a recommendation about additional beds was offered,“Your facility, with the number you’ve had most recently, you have a current need for at least 101 more beds. That’s just right now, that’s not taking into account anything going into the future.”
Looking ahead, the RQAW reps also provided some details about how projections indicate that the jail population is only expected to increase in the coming years.
The representatives showed that from around 2014 to 2019, the average daily population at the Marshall County Jail almost doubled from 125 to 244.
Using that trend as well as information from as far back as 2010 as basis for a 20-year projection, there would ultimately be a need for an additional 167 to 305 beds, when taking classification into consideration.
As was previously reported, the proposed pod that’s being considered for this expansion project would be able to house an additional 320 beds. It would be multi-leveled and feature cells as well as dormitories and various resource rooms.
The information presented in the joint session will be highlighted during tomorrow’s Maximum Impact Program at noon on MAX 98.3 FM
