After months of avoiding the issue, the Starke County Commissioners have publicly acknowledged a new jail is needed to relieve ongoing overcrowded conditions. That may not surprise anyone who has followed the problems at the jail over the past couple of years.
That was the opening sentence to an article in The Leader exactly 10 years ago today. In that same article, the Commissioners were proposing a joint meeting with the Council to discuss building a criminal justice center.
Bob Sims, who was Sheriff at the time, said in the article that the jail is over capacity “all the time.” Sims went on to say that it is hard getting prisoners in state prisons because they are filled too.
Commission President Dan Bau even suggested a site in the article. He said, “We need the Moose Lodge and we need the Wells building.”
Here we are in 2011 with the same discussion and the same jail. The only difference is the jail is 10 years older.
