(From left) Monroe County commissioners Lee Jones, Penny Githens and Julie Thomas, county attorney Lee Baker and Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté (Courtesy of Monroe County Government)
Monroe County commissioners have suspended meetings of the Community Justice Response Committee (CJRC), the group discussing plans for a new county jail.
The three commissioners — Penny Githens, Lee Jones and Julie Thomas — voted unanimously to do so after extended discussion early Wednesday about the committee’s lack of progress and contentious nature.
The commissioners said they want to gather more information about court processes before continuing discussions within the committee.
“We’ve had some good discussions at some points, but I just feel like progress requires focus,” Thomas said. “It’s not going to be perfect; but we also cannot be paralyzed by analysis, either.”
To get the information they want, the commissioners recommended forming two study groups: a facility group and court processing group, according to an email from Githens to the rest of the committee. Githens wrote that she wants the groups to address several issues listed in a PowerPoint shared at the commissioners’ Wednesday work session.
“Such changes, of course, could be instituted almost immediately to help reduce the number of individuals currently in the Monroe County Jail,” Githens wrote. “If changes can be made, even with the constraints imposed on the Courts by the current Justice Building, it will help the Commissioners make a more informed decision on the size of a new jail. Given that the initial report from the consultants was available approximately two years ago, it is our hope the Court Processing group will be able to provide the CJRC with a report in one to two months.”
The commissioners, in explaining why they need more information from the courts, cited a 2020 study which found the current jail is "failing and cannot ensure consistent and sustainable provision of Constitutional Rights of incarcerated persons."
Among the challenges with the court process, Githens said, are slow case processing, a lack of data to evaluate efficiency of the court and jail and people staying in jail for longer periods of time.
Read more: Monroe County Commissioners share report on visits to out-of-state jails
“One of the problems identified by the consultants is that there are delays in court processing and that people who are incarcerated in the Monroe County jail is longer, on average, than the national average,” Githens said in an email to WFIU/WTIU News. “Reducing length of stay decreases the number of people in the jail. This will impact the number of beds we will need in the new jail.”
Githens said the prosecutor and public defender, as well as private attorneys, can request delays in cases. Doing so keeps people incarcerated longer, which increases the jail population, she said.
The vote came less than two days after the committee’s last meeting on Monday. The pause is in effect immediately, meaning the committee’s next meeting, scheduled for May 1 and other future meetings won’t take place unless the commissioners resume them.
Sheriff, others push back
County council member Peter Iversen, who co-chairs the jail committee, said he was shocked by the commissioners’ decision.
“I was not given warning or knowledge that the committee would be suspended, nor was I given knowledge or warning that the committee would be suspended unless certain conditions are met,” Iversen said. “I’ve talked with my county council colleagues on the CJRC. They, likewise, were not given a heads up.”
Iversen said he would have preferred that discussions about suspending committee meetings took place during the group’s Monday meeting and not at the commissioners’ work session. Many committee members have said they are unable to attend the commissioners’ meetings, which typically take place on Wednesday mornings.
Read more: Strides being made in improving Monroe County Jail, sheriff says
Local officials are scheduled on Thursday to tour land south of Catalent as a potential new jail site. Iversen said that tour could be fruitful for future conversations about the jail.
Sheriff Ruben Marté also criticized the timing of the commissioners’ decision.
“We were all together Monday evening,” Marté said. “They never brought it up there, but they’re going to bring it up today. That, to me … that’s just shameful.”
Marté was particularly heated with the commissioners, who continued to dispute his criticisms that the process by which architecture firm DLZ was selected to design a new jail was not transparent.
Marté has said a staff recommendation to select DLZ was not unanimous, as stated at previous meetings. He said two representatives from his office did not formally vote.
Local advocacy group Care Not Cages has submitted a formal complaint with the Indiana Public Access Counselor about the firm selection process.
On Wednesday, county attorney Lee Baker, who was involved in the firm selection process, said an email sent by Marté earlier this month about that process was untruthful. He spent more than a half-hour disputing the particulars of Marté’s message.
“The suggestion or the innuendo in that email, at least as it concerns me, is false and unsupported by anything other than the writer’s unsubstantiated personal opinion, and I think it’s unfortunate,” Baker said. “I take offense to it, personally and professionally.”
The commissioners agreed with Baker.
“Why send such a long email about something that was a whole lot of nothing in terms of an issue?” Thomas said. “It’s unfortunate that our staff members have been maligned, and I don’t think that’s fair or right. I’m not sure what the purpose was of all of that. I guess it was just another ‘gotcha’ moment.”
Jones added: “We have a fabulous staff. It’s extremely unpleasant to see them being attacked in such a kind of ‘gotcha’ way.”
She continued, “A lot of the time, it feels more like we’re on trial — and by we, I mean the commissioners.”
Read more: Sheriff working on jail ‘with or without’ commissioners’ support
Marté said he took great offense to Baker’s comments.
“I’m appalled that they went that way,” Marté said. “No one likes to be called a liar.”
He said the commissioners’ recent treatment of him and county council member Jennifer Crossley, who are both people of color, feels racially motivated. Members of the public and representatives of the local NAACP and Monroe County Black Democratic Caucus have criticized the commissioners for the same reason.
Read more: 'I cannot move slow’: Monroe Co. Sheriff on current state of jail
“Today, their attorney is going to call me a liar; I want the public to think about that,” Marté said. “At this point, to me, it appears that I’m being treated very differently, and I’ll let the public make their own decisions why that’s happening. Because now today to me, that was the very low point that I’ve seen these commissioners go to.”
Marté’s chief deputy, Phil Parker, also took issue with Baker’s statements.
“If you’re going to stand around and call my sheriff a liar, then you better be telling the truth when you’re making your own statements,” Parker said. “I will admit that at this point, I have been frustrated with this, but I have not been angry with this. At this point, when we’ve gotten into the mud at this level, I’m pretty angry about that.”
Included in Marté’s earlier email to the committee is a list of several questions he wants the commissioners to answer about the firm selection process. Marté said Wednesday he has not received answers to those questions.
