The Starke County Council approved $50,000 to fund jailers for the Starke County Jail. Initially, Sheriff Oscar Cowen was instructed by the commissioners to pull two road officers to cover the depleted jail staff, but they quickly corrected that request when Sheriff Cowen pointed out that the road officer’s pay and jailer’s pay did not match.
Starke County officials are being faced with a philosophical dilemma. They are being asked to either reduce the sheriff’s road officers or keep the jail understaffed.
“I’m here to let you know that I’ll do whatever the Commissioners and Council ask me to do, but I do want them to understand is that in order for me to eliminate two road officers, I would have to lay them off,” said Sheriff Cowen. “I can’t just place them down in the jail and subtract their pay to jailer’s pay. I can put them in the jail, but I would have to pay them officer’s pay.”
Starke County government officials endorsed a comprehensive jail review last night that will end with a decision on what to do about the 33-year-old facility.
Commissioner Kathy Norem presented to the county officials in attendance findings from a recent jail conference attended by a five person committee from Starke County. Norem said this is a thorough review of all of the options available.
A Starke County juvenile has been waived to adult court to face six charges against him.
On August 19th, it is alleged that Tyler Rudd, 16, of North Judson, attempted to escape from an officer at the Muncie Reception and Detention Center after the officer had un-cuffed Rudd so he could use the bathroom. Rudd also reportedly used his thumb to poke the officer’s eye and he also hit him in the face causing a facial and eye injury. In this case, he has been charged with Battery as a Class C Felony and Battery as a Class D Felony and an additional charge of Attempted Escape, a Class C Felony.
Calling the future of IU Health Starke Hospital and the decision to be made on the Starke County Jail the two most important issues over the next five years, Commissioner Kathy Norem said a night should be devoted to providing information to the public on both issues.
The hospital administration was to attend the September 19th regular meeting of the Commissioners, but Norem thought the presentations would be more important than just being discussed with other county business.
The 32 hour National Institute of Corrections Conference in Denver, Colorado has given Starke County Deputy Bill Dulin a new perspective on how to plan for a new, remodeled or retrofitted jail.
As we heard earlier from Sheriff Oscar Cowen and Councilman David Pearman, now is the time for data collection. It begins with a request by Sheriff Cowen to have the National Institute of Corrections to come in and inspect the jail.
Starke County Commissioner Kathy Norem recently led a group of county officials to a National Institute of Corrections Conference in Denver, Colorado where they studied the procedure for identifying jail needs and how a project moves along after a decision is made.
Norem also led officials on tours of other jails. One thing we have not heard is what the price range might be of a new jail. She talked about how she viewed the make-up and price of the Miami County Jail.
“Miami County was probably more suitable for something that we would want to see locally and that was around $12 million or $14 million.”
One thing the group heard in Colorado is that there is a danger with a jail in the condition of the Starke County Jail because of the possibility of lawsuits. The Jack Haut Class Action lawsuit is still moving through the legal system. Even though Kathy Norem has never expressed guilt in the suit, she has mentioned that there might be others that are brought with merit.
“Basically, that lawsuit is alleging his constitutional rights are being violated and we deny that. That is not true. We do not believe that to be true and we intend to vigorously defend that. However, that doesn’t alleviate us from addressing ongoing issues within that jail. One thing that we need to do is take a look at how other people are doing their facilities and what some of their policies and practices are and try to adopt some of the best ones here.”
Chief Deputy Bill Dulin of the Starke County Sheriff’s Department will be in to discuss jail issues with us tomorrow.
Are the taxpayers in the mood to consider some expensive building programs in the near future? The Knox Community School Corporation has a committee put together to consider remodeling the Palmer Wing at the Elementary building, the Starke County Library Board wants to remodel a portion of the Henry F. Schricker Branch Library and the County Commissioners are still considering a new or remodeled county jail.
Starke County officials recently had the opportunity to travel to Denver, Colorado to attend a conference for the planning of new institutions. The conference was conducted by the National Institute of Corrections and most expenses were paid for by the Institute. Attending were Commissioner Kathy Norem, Sheriff Oscar Cowen, Chief Deputy Bill Dulin, Councilman Dave Pearman, and Jail Commander Greg Hewitt.
A Starke County prisoner is back in the Starke County Jail after escaping from Community Corrections home monitoring. Darwin Barnett was being tethered by an ankle bracelet which he removed August 19th.
After a 24 hour AWOL period, Community Corrections filed an escape notice with the Prosecutor and law enforcement. He was captured by North Judson Police and returned to jail on Wednesday, August 24th.
Stacie Brown is due in Starke Circuit Court today for an initial hearing on charges brought against her in the death of her three-year-old stepson, Ethan Brown. Stacie Brown was arrested on Friday, August 5th and Starke County Prosecutor Nicholas Bourff filed official charges against her that include Battery Resulting in Death and Neglect of a Dependent Resulting in Death, both Class A Felonies.
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.
The Starke County Commissioners toured the LaGrange County Jail last week. Commissioner Kathy Norem, who is the contact official for the jail, said the LaGrange facility was older than the other three they have visited. Earlier they went to the Marshall, Jasper, and Fulton County jails.
One of the advances the LaGrange County Jail did not have was video conferencing.
Starke County Police officers arrested James Campbell, 43, of Knox early Thursday morning after he failed to comply with police when officers ordered him to get out of his vehicle and away from loaded weapons.
Police were called to a church on Toto Road after a citizen reported a male subject acting suspiciously on the property. When police arrived, the reporting officer found James Campbell in his vehicle. The officer got out of his vehicle and approached Campbell’s vehicle and asked him to step out of the truck. Campbell ignored the officer. Campbell was asked several more times to exit the vehicle. The reporting officer noted in his report that he asked Campbell to show him his hands and Campbell reportedly started to fidget with something underneath his seat. The officer drew his weapon and told Campbell to show him his hands. He did show his hands and had nothing in them at the time.
The Starke County Commissioners toured another jail this week. They had recently visited the Marshall and Miami County jails. On Monday, they went to Rensselaer to tour the Jasper County Jail.
The tour of the 128 bed facility was conducted by Sheriff Terry Risner. The Jasper County jail is two years old and was moved from its former downtown Rensselaer location to property north of the city on State Road 231. Continue reading
Warren Coffin, Jr. , 47, of Knox, has been brought into the Starke County Jail to face several methamphetamine related charges against him from an incident in August 2010.
According to police, in August, officers were called to 7125 E. 50 S. on a complaint that Warren Coffin, Jr. may have left drugs on the property. Officers looked inside a vehicle that belonged to Coffin and saw items used to manufacture methamphetamine. When a search warrant was executed, methamphetamine was reportedly found in the vehicle along with drug paraphernalia and precursors. When Coffin’s information was run through the Sheriff’s Department, officers were alerted that he was wanted on a warrant out of Marshall County.
The Starke County jail has been identified as the second oldest jail in the state and it is getting some attention by the County Commissioners. Commissioners Dan Bridegroom, Jennifer Davis and Kathy Norem toured two jails in surrounding counties to gain information on how they might configure a new jail in Starke County. The Commissioners visited the Marshall and Fulton County jails yesterday.
An attorney status hearing is scheduled in the Starke Circuit Court this afternoon for Hobart Givens, Jr., 21, of Knox. Givens is charged with one count of Stalking, a Class D Felony, and Possession of Marijuana after being apprehended by police following a complaint.
On June 13th, police received a complaint from a resident who said that their 11-year old daughter was harassed by a male subject driving an older maroon Ford Taurus with lightning bolts on both sides. The girl told police that she had been walking her dog on Potter Street when the subject pulled up next to her and asked her how old she was. When she didn’t respond, he asked her if she needed a ride, at which point she immediately picked up her dog and ran home. When police arrived on scene, the victim was “very scared and upset.”
Starke County Commissioner, Kathy Norem, was questioned by the County Council Monday on funding the defense in a Class Action Lawsuit filed against the County by Starke County Jail inmate, Jack Haut.
The Council asked Norem if she had any idea what range of funding would be needed for this lawsuit.
Talk of a new Starke County Jail has surfaced again. The three Starke County Commissioners talked about visiting other county jails in Marshall, Fulton and Brown Counties to look at the configuration of the buildings.
The announcement of the fact that they would be touring these buildings was made during the June 16th meeting to discuss the Class Action Law Suit brought against the County by Jack Haut, a Starke County Inmate.
