DRUG CASES CROWD JAILS

Titus Jackson cringes as he describes how one of his two jail cellmates
must sleep on the floor within splashing distance of the toilet.

He also is concerned about the spread of illnesses in a jail that at times
has twice the number of inmates it should.

It is people like Jackson, who is serving time for non-violent drug
offenses, who are clogging the Allen County Jail and other correctional
institutions across the state and nation, according to national and local
criminal justice experts.

"I'm not a violent person. I've never hurt anyone," said Jackson, 40,
sentenced last week to 10 years on cocaine dealing and weapons charges.
"There are guys in here serving less time for rape and child molesting."

Despite Indiana's efforts at alternative sentencing, the number of people
behind bars jumped 60 percent to 34,676 statewide in the last decade,
according to 2000 census figures released last month. In many counties,
jail populations have doubled and even tripled since 1990.

The growth can be tracked to America's crackdown on drugs, with a focus on
enforcement, longer sentences and more stringent laws for drug offenses,
according to national and local experts.

The result in Indiana has been two new prisons since 1990 with two more
under construction and new or expanded jails for some other counties.

In northeast Indiana the jail population more than doubled to 1,785,
excluding about 150 inmates in LaGrange County, which somehow was missed in
the Census tally.

Allen, Kosciusko, LaGrange and Noble counties have expanded or built jails
in the last three years. In Allen County's case, it took a lawsuit to force
the expansion.

While the public can take satisfaction knowing more people are being
jailed, overcrowding increases medical and food costs and puts a strain on
staff, said attorney Kenneth J. Falk of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union,
which filed the Allen County lawsuit.

"With so many inmates so close, tempers flair," he said. "It creates more
chance for fights, making it an unsafe place to work, because it's harder
for guards to intervene because there are more people."

The drug war

Although census numbers include prisons, lockups and holding cells, in
northeast Indiana the count generally reflects county jail populations. A
minimum security prison in Noble County also houses about 100 inmates.

In Allen County, the jail population doubled from 356 in 1990 to 712 in
2000. Part of the increase can be attributed to an overall rise in the
population, said Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York.

The county grew by 10.3 percent to 331,000, according to census figures.

A May 1998 lawsuit filed against the county by the ICLU on behalf of an
inmate resulted in a 250-bed jail expansion, which is currently under
construction. At times before the lawsuit, more than 800 inmates filled the
jail, which was built to hold 462.

Similar lawsuits were filed against DeKalb and Steuben counties in the 1980s.

When completed in fall of 2002, the Allen County Jail, at the corner of
Superior and Calhoun streets, will fill a full city block.

The local explosion of inmates is also happening across the country. It has
caused a flurry of construction of prisons and jails in recent years.

"We are now seeing the results of the war on drugs started in the early
1990s," said Deborah Vargas, policy analyst with the Justice Policy
Institute, a criminal justice think tank based in California and
Washington, D.C.

In many states, including Indiana, the emphasis on stopping drug dealers
and abusers led to mandatory jail time, bypassing a judge's discretion in
sentencing, Vargas said.

Indiana law requires drug offenders to serve a minimum amount behind bars
that cannot be suspended by a judge.

"Throwing them in jail doesn't address their addiction," Vargas said. "It's
a revolving door."

A `knee-jerk reaction'

The majority of inmates across the country are non-violent drug offenders,
Vargas said.

On July 1, 2000, 83 percent of Indiana's adult prison inmates who were
convicted of a Class A felony A the most severe A were serving time for a
drug offense, said Pam Pattison, Indiana Department of Correction
spokeswoman. Of those convicted of a B felony, 98 percent were serving time
for drugs. The 2000 figures are the most recent available.

The need for money to purchase drugs, particularly crack cocaine, often
leads to other types of crimes, said Allen County Sheriff Jim Herman.
Obtaining money for drugs is often the motive in burglaries, robberies and
thefts, he said.

Public pressure to crackdown on drugs led to a "knee-jerk reaction," said
Allen County Jail Commander Thomas Hathaway.

Jailing drug abusers and dealers was not a rational solution, but a rash
decision that showed quick results without consideration of long- term
effects, like overcrowding, he said.

"When you respond with a knee-jerk reaction, you don't see the effects
right away," Hathaway said. "Jail is the stop for other programs that have
failed."

There are alcohol or drug offenders who float in and out of the county jail
a few times each year who probably do not need to be housed there, Hathaway
said.

"You could lay your wallet down in the room and they wouldn't steal from
you," he said. "Jailing them isn't working. It's just housing them. But
judges get tired of seeing these people, too."

Before strict sentencing limits, judges were criticized for giving
different sentences to offenders committing the same crime, Hathaway said.

Now, some believe the sentences go too far.

"The penalties are stiffer for drug offenses. It's to the point now where
they are far more severe than violent crimes against people," said Larry
Landis, executive director of the Indiana Public Defenders Council. "Rape
or armed robbery is a Class B felony with a sentence of six to 20 years,
all suspendable, while dealing three grams of cocaine has a 20- to 50-year
sentence, none suspendable."

Society as a whole is spinning its wheels fighting the war on drugs, said
the Rev. Michael Nickleson, spokesman for the Interdenominational
Ministerial Alliance in Fort Wayne.

"We need to go after the drug producers, not so much the drug users," he
said. "There is this philosophy that if you remove the demand it will have
an effect on the supply. Really, it's like picking the flower without it's
root."

Alternatives

Drug users need to be treated for their addiction more than they need to be
assigned to hard time, helping them to turn their lives around, Nickleson said.

Although Allen County has a good alternative sentencing network, Nickleson
said it could be used more, and additional programs should be developed.

One alternative program, the Allen County Drug Court, is helping.

After falsifying a prescription, a 22-year-old Fort Wayne woman said she is
now working to earn a high school equivalency degree, as a participant of
the drug court, which sets goals for non-violent offenders while requiring
drug screening. The woman, in court Friday, declined to be named.

Work-release and community corrections programs are also credited with
keeping the inmate population from increasing more than it has.

Allen County Community Corrections aims to rehabilitate offenders through
increased awareness about the crimes committed, the victim and the
offender, the idea referred to as restorative justice by officials, said
Sheila Hudson, executive director.

The program keeps a few hundred people out of jail annually through
specialized sentencing like home detention, community service or education
for sex-offenders and substance abusers, she said.

Although about 70 other counties throughout Indiana have Community
Corrections programs, Allen County's is thought to be one of the best and
provides a good model for others to start from, Landis said.

Rather than expand the jail, the Adams County Sheriff's Department built a
new work-release building with 44 beds, said Sheriff Bill Crone.

The program is intended for individuals convicted of non-violent crimes who
are likely to succeed outside the correctional department but need
structure to do so, he said.

Participants are required to report back to the building on time and must
go through breath testing and other measures to ensure they have not abused
drugs or alcohol while away.

"It's the honor system," Crone said. "There are no bars or locks."

Wabash County Sheriff Tim Roberts said work-release has helped maintain an
inmate population close to capacity.

"We need to recognize the need for jails for people we need to be protected
from, but not from those who harm themselves," Landis said.

"There is a use for them. We need to differentiate between the groups they
are for. We are so far out of balance with law enforcement about drug
offenses."

Until society realizes that it cannot build it's way out of the drug war
and that "brick and mortar" isn't the solution, drug addicts will continue
to overcrowd prisons and jails, he said.

For Titus Jackson such a realization by society can't come quick enough.

Although he could be released from jail in five years with good behavior,
Jackson prays that his ailing mother will still be alive when he is released.

While in jail, Jackson plans to take classes in hopes of reducing his
sentence so his children are not completely grown the next time he is free.