Many Indiana counties face jail crowding after inmate shift
A recent state survey found that almost half of all jail inmates are Level 6 felons, the lowest-level felons.
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Articles
Firefighters battle blaze at Pendleton Correctional Facility
A fire at central Indiana's Pendleton Correctional Facility has been extinguished after heavily damaging one of the prison complex's buildings.
Indianapolis firm lone bidder to handle $45M Muncie jail project
The proposed jail in the former Wilson Middle School building would have room for up to 750 inmates.
Hamilton County kicks off 256-bed jail expansion, eyes start of second phase
County officials are weighing whether to get moving on the $4 million final phase so it could be finished at the same time as the first.
Indiana recommends bid for prison computer tablets
The Indiana Department of Correction is negotiating with a company to provide tablets with educational and entertainment materials for all inmates.
Indiana to close prison after minimum-security inmate count falls
The number of minimum-security inmates has fallen under new sentencing guidelines passed by the General Assembly in 2014 and 2015 that called for people convicted of Level 6 felonies to be restricted from state prisons.
Marion County seeks to relieve jail’s overcrowding problem
The overcrowding problem at the Marion County Jail stems from rising violent crime in Indianapolis and a state law that sends low-level offenders from state prisons to county jails, according to county officials.
Indianapolis agency gets grant to help inmates find jobs
EmployIndy is receiving the grant as startup capital to provide services to inmates before their release and then ongoing support in their communities once their incarceration ends.
Inmates could get trades training under Senate bill
Senate Bill 173, authored by Sen. R. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, requires the Indiana Department of Correction to establish a specialized vocational program to train minimum-security inmates in trades.
Influx of offenders may tax county coffers
The state’s inmate population is projected to continue rising, even after a criminal-code overhaul intended to prevent the need for prison expansions takes effect July 1.
Criminal code update pleases some, worries others
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard said the bill “has been a long time coming” and will provide “sentencing reform that really has been sorely needed.”
Report: New law will boost Indiana prison population
Sweeping changes that Indiana lawmakers made this year to sentencing guidelines in hopes of slowing the growth of the state's prison population will actually have the opposite effect, according to a new report.
Pence praises 1st-year prison job-skills program
A program aimed at teaching and training prison inmates skills needed to get jobs when they are released has led to more than 600 people being employed in its first year.
Indiana prison education cuts cost Ball State jobs
A new law denying state grants for college education to prison inmates has cost the jobs of more than 70 Ball State University employees.
Critics: City’s effort to help ex-offenders ineffective
Three years after Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard launched a city office designed to help ex-offenders avoid a repeat prison visit, some of those original supporters say the city’s Office of Re-Entry Initiatives not only has fallen short of that goal but has accomplished little else.
Budget cuts will limit Indiana inmate education
ndiana lawmakers' decision to cut off grants to state prison inmates attending college could make it harder for prisoners to find employment when they're released, supporters of the program fear.
$40M prison work program helps inmates, businesses
If you’ve ever cooked a hamburger over a grill at Shakamak State Park, sat in a hospital waiting room chair, or sipped from a water fountain, you may have used products made by Indiana convicts. Although offender work programs have been around since the 1920s, most Hoosiers know little about the Indiana Department of Correction’s prison-based industries, which generate $40 million a year in revenue.
Sheriff contemplating jail privatization
In the overcrowded Marion County Jail, early release of dangerous inmates has become an unpleasant fact of life. To slow the tide, Sheriff Frank Anderson is considering a radical new solution: full privatization.