Join us June 16 at 9 a.m. for a virtual event about Jail Diversion in Indianapolis.
In 2015, criminal justice reform in Indiana changed the location where those convicted of low-level felonies served their sentences from prisons to local jails. During the following two years, the total jail population across Indiana rose by one third and overcrowding became more common.
To understand the nature of this growth and how the jail population was impacted by recent criminal justice policy changes, we examine inmate and booking data obtained from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. Our analysis explores racial disparities, length of stay, access to bail, and the presence of mental health and substance use among Indianapolis jail inmates.
The subsequent findings inform the identification of promising approaches to addressing the size of the local jail population and the needs of those impacted by incarceration.
