If the Marshall County Jail begins to experience overcrowding, an option has been approved thanks to the actions of Marshall County Sheriff Matt Hassel and the Marshall County Commissioners.
During Monday’s commission meeting Sheriff Hassel presented an intergovernmental agreement with Elkhart County to house sentenced inmates in their jail for a charge of $60 a day. The Sheriff said one of their County Commissioners is a former sheriff and knows the cost to house an inmate.
Sheriff Hassel said he’s been in contact with Fulton County’s Sheriff Chris Saylor about housing inmates. Fulton County’s new jail facility will be completed this fall and they will have space to take out of county inmates. Hassel said he hopes to get a better deal on the daily cost.
On Monday there were 183 inmates in the jail and 80% capacity is 187. Once the jail reaches the 80% capacity, they need to take action to address overcrowding.
Related to the jail, County Attorney Jim Clevenger said he was attending a zoom meeting with the Indiana ACLU that day on the class action case of overcrowding at the jail. He told the commissioners they have provided records of sufficient jailers working during the overcrowding period and records of increased medical coverage.
Clevenger also said the county’s insurance company counsel should have to number of cases reduced to 5 by the end of the month and noted that all remaining cases have claims related to medical issues as well as overcrowding.
