The ACLU is asking the Indiana Supreme Court to direct trial courts to review the population in prisons and jails.
The request comes as states around the country are seeking to depopulate jails and prisons to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
“The problem, of course, in jails and prisons is that it's impossible to do social distancing,” says Ken Falk, the ACLU of Indiana’s legal director. “They are populations that are prone to a very rapid spread of the disease.”
“And in addition to prisoners, you have people who work in those institutions who come and go every day. They are potential very serious hotspots,” Falk says.
In Monroe County, an official at the local sheriff’s office says this month’s average population is 185 — down from 249 in February.
The official, Sam Crowe, says the sheriff's department doesn't have the authority to release inmates from the county jail.
Those orders come from presiding judge Mary Ellen Diekhoff, who Crowe says is doing everything she can to reduce the jail population.
There are only four people currently serving time for crimes in the county jail, Crowe says, fewer than the typical 20 to 25. He says the other 181 are either awaiting trial or have been picked up for probation violations.
Cathy Knapp contributed reporting.
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