By Chelsea Schneider
Evansville Courier & Press
INDIANAPOLIS — Key pieces of the first overhaul of the state’s criminal code in 35 years will take effect in July, and two Southwestern Indiana sheriffs say the changes may place a strain on their operations.
The Indiana General Assembly approved the reforms the byproduct of years of work this year and in 2013.
The ultimate goal is for violent offenders to serve in state prisons for longer periods of time, while offenders convicted of less serious felonies will serve their sentences in county jails or local corrections programs.
The ultimate question is how the reforms will play out in reality.
What Vanderburgh County Sheriff
Dave Wedding knows for sure is that more low level offenders, such as people convicted for simple thefts or possession of marijuana, will remain in the county. After July 1, Wedding said the new law requires the county to keep those offenders locally after sentencing instead of transferring them to the
Indiana Department of Corrections.
“We certainly like the fact that violent offenders or hardened offenders will serve more time at (the Department of Corrections,)” Wedding said. “Now conversely, for them to mandate for us to house more people here without adequately funding us that would create more burden.”
Generally the Vanderburgh County jail serves as a pre-trial detention facility, with about half of inmates awaiting trial or a disposition in a case. But the jail, which has 553 beds, is often at or over capacity.
The reforms also give judges more flexibility to move low level offenders into community corrections programs, and while the county logistically has room to hold them, a need would exist for more probation officers and case managers, Wedding said.
“It is tough trying to do things when you lack the resources to get the job done,” Wedding said. “I just hope once this occurs that everyone keeps an open mind and they are receptive to us coming to them to say we need a certain level of staffing to complete the task they are giving us.”
Warrick County Sheriff Brett Kruse said the county’s jail at approximately 75 percent capacity has space to house additional inmates. However, Kruse said a retired jailer wasn’t replaced because at the time he didn’t feel like the extra manpower was needed.
“If the inmate population goes back up, I’m going to have to have that person back and probably another one,” Kruse said.
One independent study on the impact of the reforms found more than 14,000 offenders could be diverted from the Department of Corrections, a move that would shift about $10.5 million in costs to local programs.
A thought behind the reforms is the Department of Corrections will realize savings by serving fewer inmates and those savings could be shifted to the counties. If costs are reduced, state lawmakers approved the ability to transfer up to $11 million in grants to community corrections agencies and probation programs. State Rep. Greg Steuerwald, a lead crafter of the reforms, said the $11 million is a good faith provision to show any savings by the state will be passed on to locals.
The way the law is written offenders convicted of the lowest level of felony will stay in county programs if their sentence is less than 90 days. An estimated 500 to 600 people statewide met the criteria last year. Beginning July 2015, offenders with sentences less than a year would stay locally. Currently counties receive $35 per day for felony offenders they house locally, and that funding would be maintained in the new law, Steuerwald said.
Steuerwald said the reforms pair with extensive data gathering to understand the extent offenders are being shifted from state jails to county programs, and if the state is realizing any cost savings.
“There is no doubt that this is going to be a continuing evaluation,” Steuerwald said.
State Rep. Jud McMillin, R-Brookville, said he hopes any new money counties receive will go toward expanding community corrections programs.
“I’m not interested in seeing funding to expand local jails or build more local jails,” McMillin said.
______
Indiana’s new classification system for felonies starts July 1.
Current
Murder: 45-65 years
Class A: 20-50 years
Class B: 6-20 years
Class C: 2-8 years
Class D: 6 months - 3 years
New
Murder: 45-65 years
Level 1: 20-40 years
Level 2: 10-30 years
Level 3: 3-16 years
Level 4: 2-12 years
Level 5: 1-6 years
Level 6: 6 months - 2.5 years