Article submitted by Jamie Fleury, The Pilot News Staff Writer
MARSHALL COUNTY — Marshall County Sheriff Matthew Hassel submitted his commissary report to the Marshall County Council this month from July 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021.
The balance was $242,946.49. Total receipts for the period totaled $44,106.55. Total disbursements for the period totaled $78,328.63. Ending balance as of December 31 was $208,724.41.
The Proposed Commissary Budget for 2022 allotted $42,000 for supplies including vending supplies, employee awards, miscellaneous, prisoner meals, prisoner supplies, K-9 supplies, vehicle maintenance, jail supplies, and other supplies.
$104,000 was allotted in services for banking fees, inmate services, equipment contracts, jail repair, K-9 veterinarian bills, vehicle repairs, training, legal services, and youth programs.
$105,000 was allotted for equipment, vehicle accessories, office furniture, and a vehicle. Department totals for 2022 are budgeted at $251,000, with $127,495.42 spent last year.
“We do a lot of training out of this for our 9-1-1 turnkey dispatchers. This fund pays for all the training.”
The Commissary Budget for 2022 will also include support for programming fees. “I know unfortunately that we lost the jail grant, but we’ve got money here to provide those programs. That’s how we had always done it in the past.” Sheriff Hassel confirmed that two sources of grant funding were lost, the Jail Chemical Addictions Program (JCAP) grant from the Indiana Office of the Attorney General and the Indiana Department of Corrections (IDOC).
The County Council unanimously approved the budget as presented.
Sheriff Hassel updated the council on communication he had with member Jesse Bohannon regarding the number of active warrants on the January 2022 jail report. He confirmed that outstanding warrants are not a reliable indicator of potential jail population. “We’ve always carried a large list of active warrants even back in 1981 when I started with the Sheriff’s Department.” Law enforcement only has jurisdiction during an encounter with someone within an adjoining county to serve the warrant.
Sheriff Hassel estimated that 80% of outstanding warrants fall under that category. “You really can’t say that’s a judgment of where our jail population might be. You can’t say that. It’s always been there. Always will be there.”
He confirmed that felonies are pursued, even out of state. The Marshall County Prosecutor’s Office handles extraditions.
Bohannon said, “The purpose for my question was that I think we all would love to have some sort of statistic that would help us to anticipate the future demand for incarceration. But that number just isn’t it.”
Sheriff Hassel expressed concern that delays in transport of inmates who are sentenced to serve time at the IDOC do sometimes increase population. It is the IDOC that sets the date for transport. “We had this problem last year.”
He indicated that the fourth court has expedited the process for those individuals being housed pre-trial. Some inmates want to delay trial or sentencing to prolong time near their family. “I did have about two years ago I did have a pregnant female that wanted to have her baby here so her family could be here at the hospital with her. We were able to work with Judge Bowen and get that rectified so that we didn’t get his with the expense of paying for a child birth.”
Phone calls and virtual visitation bring in money for commissary. Member Jim Masterson said, “So those folks that have family that can afford to do that do that, but those that can’t don’t have the visitation.” Sheriff Hassel said that all inmates do have some allocation of free visitation.
Member Tim Harman addressed House Bill 1004, which passed 46-3 on Tuesday, Feb. 22, will allow but not require a Judge to sentence an inmate to IDOC; relieving that burden from the local county jail.
Sheriff Hassel said, “We’re very fortunate because I’ve talked to other Sheriffs around here, we’ve only run between 15 and 25 Level 6 the whole time since that Bill 1006 took effect. But I know other county jails like Vanderburgh County, it’s huge, they have hundreds of Level 6 and its very expensive. It fills up the capacity of their jail. Right now we’ve been very fortunate.”
Member Masterson said that potential or recommended changes to the law regarding medical marijuana may also have an impact.
