LOCKUP NOW OFF LIMITS FOR SOME CRIMES

To Prevent Crowding, Police Must Now Ticket, Not Arrest, Suspects For
Prostitution, Pot Use.

Prostitutes, pot smokers and unlicensed drivers will avoid arrest under
Marion County's latest plan to ease crowding at the Downtown lockup.

In an effort to avoid penalties and fines when the lockup's population
exceeds a court-ordered cap, Marion County judges on Thursday ordered
police to give some suspects what amounts to a traffic ticket instead of
arresting them, freeing up space for more dangerous suspects.

Instead of being jailed, people suspected of those crimes will be issued a
summons to appear in court.

Attorneys for the county say this change would reduce the population by
about 200 inmates a week.

The three-judge executive committee wants to show a federal judge the
county is trying to end the crowding, which places correctional officers in
danger and infringes on inmates' civil rights.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker found the county in
contempt for the conditions at the lockup. She warned that after May 1, the
county would face heavy fines for each day the population exceeds the cap
and for each inmate who is held in the facility longer than four days.

There were 252 inmates in the lockup Thursday, but the lockup violated the
297-person cap by 30 or more inmates three times over the weekend.

The lockup is the temporary holding facility in the City-County Building
where the newly arrested are detained until they face a judge for the first
time or post bond.

Indiana Civil Liberties Union attorney Ken Falk, who met privately Thursday
with attorneys for the county and Barker, praised the county's efforts to
address the population limit. But he worried that some inmates are being
held far longer than they should be.

The rule change made little sense to Bonnie Dotts, president of the We Care
Neighborhood Association. Her group has tried to rid the Washington Street
and Belmont Avenue area of prostitutes and drug users.

"These bugs on the streets are going to have a joyous day," Dotts said. "It
may be the answer for them Downtown, but it's another problem for the
neighborhoods."