The fact that we have a lot of inmates, it’s basically a revolving door.
Sullivan County Sheriff Clark Cottom
SULLIVAN, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Jail overcrowding is an issue facing multiple counties in the Wabash Valley. In Sullivan County, the jail reached 200% capacity at the beginning of this year, leading the county to a discussion about building a new jail.
At the root of this overcrowding issue, according to county officials, is drug abuse, and the high recidivism, or rate of return to jail, that comes with addiction.
According to Sullivan County Sheriff Clark Cottom, the recidivism rate in Sullivan County is “probably 70-80%”.
Cottom and Sullivan County Chief Probation Officer Barb Montgomery agree that drug use, particularly methamphetamine addiction, is a huge factor in inmates returning to jail due to the unforgiving nature of addiction.
“A lot of our people that are dealing with methamphetamine abuse also have low income, and so they’re not able to move away from Sullivan County, away from the people places and things that caused them to use,” said Montgomery.
“Often times, when these people are released from jail, they go right back to the drug, it’s not necessarily because they want to, they’re not out here partying it up, but they’re addicted,” said Cottom.
Cottom says he often counsels inmates on not returning to the same community they came from, or the same social circle; but what he’s really hoping for is a program that can help inmates where they are.
“We’ve said that when somebody’s released from jail, one of the best things they can do is have some sort of a work-release program, some sort of rehabilitation, a monitored program with education and counseling,” said Cottom.
Montgomery says there are programs the county is working on, such as an incentives and sanctions token system and the implementation of a mandatory pre-trial release program.
Barb Montgomery explains the pre-trial release program:
Another item on Sullivan County’s wish list is a more organized system of Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
“If you know anything about recovery, the first 90 days, you’re supposed to attend a meeting every day for the first 90 days, in Sullivan County we have maybe five meetings a week,” said Montgomery.
The entire issue works as a cycle, with inmates returning to jail at high rates in turn creating an overcrowded jail, which in turn leads to a lack of classification among inmates.
“If you have an overcrowded jail, you cannot provide any separation of inmates, you can’t provide separate areas for those that want to heal and those who want to get better,” said Cottom.
This issue then cycles back to programming, and the fact that those with the potential to heal need more than just jail time to do so.
Barb Montgomery explains the incentives and sanctions program:
“We use jail to try to curb behavior, clearly that’s not helping, and that’s not doing it, and so if we can other things, and help motivate people that want to change change, I mean hopefully, our goal would be that we have a jail that’s completely empty,” said Montgomery.
Cottom made a point that if the county does build a new jail, which he believes will happen, he personally would like to see the current jail used as a work release center.
For more data on adult recidivism rates by county in Indiana, click
here
.
