The arrangement to house a number of Starke County inmates in the Pulaski County Jail to ease the overcrowding situation in the Starke County facility seems to be going well, according to Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer.
“So far it’s been going really well,” said Gayer. “The inmates haven’t caused any additional work. We’re set up to house 127 inmates, we were down to about 50 when this agreement came into play, so things are going well so far.”
Pulaski County is housing the inmates for the agreed upon cost of $20 a day per inmate. The jail staff is then responsible for housing the inmates, providing their meals and issuing their necessary medications. Sheriff Gayer said there were 13 inmates in the jail yesterday, and the number of inmates ranges from 13 to 15 a day.
“I think they want to keep their population somewhere around 62, so we take the surplus,” Gayer explained.
While in the Pulaski County Jail, the Starke County inmates, along with the general population in the jail, can participate in programs to assist them in their rehabilitation.
“We offer substance abuse – both for alcohol abuse and drug abuse – and a school of responsibility. Be responsible for your actions, if you commit it. GED, any type of counseling, marital counseling, how to take care of your children better, we have religious services and studies – just a variety of things that we offer obviously to keep them from coming back into the system,” said Gayer.
Gayer said the Pulaski County facility is one of only 14 jails in the state that offer these types of rehabilitative programs.
The agreement between the two counties stands until one entity cancels the deal or when the inmate population in Starke County is below the overcrowding threshold.
