With 19 women in the Lawrence County Jail and just four female jail staff members, Lawrence County Sheriff Greg Day told the county council he needs more help.
Day asked the county council for an exception that would allow him to use the chief matron, a salaried female member of the support staff, to help out on a temporary basis until he’s able to hire more female jail staff.
At this point, the county jail needs six staff members, both male and female, to be fully staffed, according to Day.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Day, who said a recent job fair held by his department will find employees to fill those holes.
Sheriff Day said the open house at the end of May, “had a small turnout, but a lot of quality candidates.” Day is hopeful the county jail will be fully staffed by the end of June.
Is crime in Lawrence County up or holding steady?
Council members also took a report on the state of crime in Lawrence County.
Lawrence County Prosecutor Sam C. Arp recently reported crime is down compared to last year with 356 cases filed between Jan. 1 and May 31, 2024, compared to 371 cases filed during the same period in 2023.
Arp reported that compares to 625 cases filed in 2019, the year he took office. Arp credited the decline to programs for drug treatment, job skills, restoration of driving privileges and education, along with less judicial tolerance of recidivism.
"Judges are holding people accountable when they violate probation," Arp wrote in his report. "The defendants who violate probation and are sent to the Indiana Department of Corrections are no longer in our community committing new crimes.”
Tim Sledd, chief public defender, countered Arp's assessment saying he believes crime overall is steady. Sledd cited a slight increase in juvenile filings and, with six months left to go in the year, the potential for more murders. Two people have been jailed on murder charges this year. In 2023, the total was three.
Sledd said Lawrence County's juvenile cases have ticked up and there are far more referrals to the justice system than in other counties. The juvenile inquiries for Lawrence County were 206 in 2022 and 220 in 2023, Sledd said.
Arp confirmed that juvenile filings are not a part of his report.
For comparison, in Monroe County, there were 170 inquiries in 2022 and 167 in 2023. Lawrence County has a population of about 45,000 while Monroe County has a population of around 139,000.
“Tobacco, runaways, those kinds of offenses,” Sledd told the council members about the kinds of juvenile cases. “It's been on a slow rise from 2019 to 115 to 2023 to 133. It may not seem like a huge number jump, but those are individuals that have cases that have been heard.”
Sledd said he and Councilman Rick Butterfield sit on a steering committee to analyze the data and figure out why juvenile cases are increasing. Others involved in the committee are Juvenile Referee Ana H. Gouty and Lawrence County schools officials.
“The county is getting involved in juvenile inquiries that are really best left to be resolved between the school, mom and dad, and their children,” said Sledd separately. He pointed to Jackson counties as possibly providing some examples of solutions.
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