HIGH-RISK INMATES: DANGER BACK ON THE STREETS

Jail Crowding Crisis Builds

Public officials feeling pressure to find a solution.

Cornelius Cooper has been arrested on a murder charge, served 11 months in
a Kentucky prison for manslaughter and been convicted on several drug
possession charges.

Yet he was one of the 95 inmates Marion Superior Court Judge William Young
chose to release last month, while people accused of nonviolent crimes such
as prostitution and theft remained behind bars.

What's more, when Young released those inmates July 25, there still was
plenty of room in the Marion County Jail, The Indianapolis Star has learned
after a review of jail and court records.

The decision to release those high-risk inmates because of jail
overcrowding has caused outrage among City-County Council members, other
judges and the public.

"Someone was looking for dramatic effect," City-County Council Democrat
Jackie Nytes said.

She and others think Young and Marion County Sheriff Jack Cottey, both
Republicans, are releasing the worst of the worst onto Indianapolis streets
to force fiscal leaders and council members into spending millions to solve
a decades-old jail overcrowding problem.

Young, who has volunteered to try to manage the overcrowding, said that's bunk.

"If that were the case, every time I released somebody, I would be on the
phone to (the media)," he said. "I have not sought out any of this. I'm
just doing what I need to do for my job based upon the limitation of
resources that I have."

From Jan. 1 to July 31, Young ordered the release of 2,287 inmates. He
said it's to avoid running afoul of the federal judge who has been
overseeing a lawsuit against the county filed 30 years ago by the Indiana
Civil Liberties Union over crowded conditions at the jail and lockup.

But currently, only the lockup -- two floors in the City-County Building
where people who are arrested go to be fingerprinted and charged -- has a
court-imposed population limit. That number is 297.

A similar ceiling at the jail was lifted three years ago. The facility has
1,284 permanent beds and 250 temporary bunks, so technically there's room
for more than 1,500 inmates. At 10 p.m. July 25, the day Cooper was
released, there were 1,346 people in the jail.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker has made it clear the county could
face new sanctions if the sheriff tries to cram too many people into the
facility.

That's why both Cottey and Young say they operate under a self-imposed cap
of 1,300 inmates. Otherwise, Cottey said, there would be too many people
for the jail staff to keep under control.

"We're going to be right back over there again," he said, referring to
Barker's federal courtroom.

Both Republicans and Democrats say the release of criminals must stop soon
because people who should be incarcerated are out committing more crimes.
Twice in 10 months, a freed inmate has been charged with murder after his
release.

Many criminal court judges say they are sick of watching inmates walk out,
but they've passed up at least two chances to improve the situation.

A proposal presented to the judges earlier this month would have provided
them with more information about the inmates, including their criminal
histories.

Superior Court Judge Mark Stoner, a Democrat, also suggested judges share
the burden of releasing prisoners by rotating the responsibility.

Both ideas were tabled on party-line votes. Republicans hold the majority.

The judges will meet again Tuesday to discuss whether and how the releases
should continue.

Politicians such as Cottey, Mayor Bart Peterson and Auditor Marty Womacks
agree that action needs to be taken, such as adding more jail beds,
improving inmate processing or beefing up the number of jailers,
prosecutors, public defenders and probation officers.

But those cost money, and the politicians, including council members,
already have wasted weeks bickering about next year's city and county budgets.

Meanwhile, Judge Young said he has continued to do his part to keep the
jail population down.

Every afternoon, Young receives a list of inmates from the jail and
determines how many of them he must let out to meet the sheriff's
self-imposed cap. Most of the prisoners he releases have come through his
court, because he is supposed to ask permission from other judges before
ordering their inmates out of jail.

"The pot of people that you get to choose from is not good," Young said.

He acknowledges that inmates charged with less serious crimes slip by.

Allison Drews, 19, is one of those people. She had been in jail less than a
week on a theft charge and failure to appear in court when Young released
the 95 felony suspects.

Asked why he released those accused of serious crimes instead of less risky
inmates, Young said he doesn't always have enough time to determine who
stays and who walks.

"You have to make the best guess you can based upon the limited information
that you have," he said. "Are you going to make mistakes? Sure. Are people
going to go out and do stuff that's stupid that you can't control? Sure."

Superior Court Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson said, "Bill Young doesn't have to
let anybody out." She said Young doesn't have enough information to release
inmates without jeopardizing public safety, and there's no legal reason to
let them go.

Young said when there are too many people in the jail, conditions become
dangerous and unlivable.

But he says he'll stop releasing inmates -- and risk new federal court
intervention -- if politicians don't find a solution to jail overcrowding.

He's upset that two of the people who are most responsible for financing a
solution -- Peterson, the city's Democratic mayor, and Womacks, the
county's Republican auditor -- appear deadlocked.

Young said the solution includes money for jail beds, support staff and a
$12 million processing center to streamline the intake of the newly arrested.

"I am hopeful that the specter of those fines and the reality of the public
safety risks will sway the Legislative and Executive Branches of this
county to do the right thing," Young wrote in a recent e-mail to fellow
judges and several county officials. "If not, then they shall reap what
they sow."

(SIDEBAR)

Questionable choices

On July 25, 95 inmates were released from Marion County Jail, including
some high-risk prisoners. Left behind were several with less violent
histories. Here are examples.

Cornelius Cooper, 37

Charge: Dealing and possession of cocaine

Bond: $80,000

History: Served time for manslaughter, battery and cocaine possession;
charged with murder.

Fernando Martinez, 31

Charge: Dealing cocaine

Bond: $75,000

History: Police say he was arrested with 1.75 pounds of methamphetamine,
marijuana, cocaine and two guns.

Allison Drews, 19

Charge: Outstanding warrant

Bond: $7,500

History: Previously charged with theft/receiving stolen property and
resisting arrest.

Charles Cobb, 36

Charge: Failure to appear in civil court

Bond: $500

History: Numerous civil charges and two criminal charges of marijuana
possession. These nonviolent offenders also were in jail on July 25 and
could have been released.