Full Article
April 29, 2014
By Maureen Hayden CNHI Indiana Statehouse Bureau
Pharos-Tribune
INDIANAPOLIS — After 40 years in law enforcement, Franklin County Sheriff Ken Murphy knows what doesn’t work when it comes to reducing crime: Locking up non-violent offenders whose petty crimes are driven by addiction.
BIG CHANGES
QUESTIONS ON NUMBERS
FEARS STATEWIDE
Local officials counter that they’re already strapped. Linda Brady, president of the Probation Officers’ Professional Association of Indiana, known as POPAI, said local probation departments are critically understaffed as it is, with individual probation officers carrying caseloads of 200 to 300 offenders. “We’re already drowning now,” Brady said.
Among her worries: The new sentencing laws forbid judges from sending low-level offenders into state prisons for violating the “technical” terms of their probation, such as failing a drug-test or missing a counseling appointment.
But in her community, the county jail isn’t an option: Routinely full, it’s under court order to cap its numbers. Brady said that leaves her local judges with few options.
“It will be a train wreck if the state doesn’t appropriately fund this,” Brady said. “It will be a public safety nightmare across the state.”