Vera Institute of Justice to Preview Findings of New Data on What Jails Cost in Indiana

WHAT: On Tuesday, October 5th, experts from the Vera Institute of Justice will preview findings from the forthcoming digital publication What Jails Cost Statewide in Indiana, the most comprehensive look to date at the cost of jail incarceration in counties across the state. What Jails Cost also includes a county-by-county look at the potential cost savings from reducing jail incarceration.

Local jails are the “front door” to mass incarceration, and the number of Indiana residents in local lockups has increased dramatically in recent years. Most of the people in Indiana’s jails have not yet been convicted and are being detained solely because they can’t afford to pay the court or the private bail industry to secure their release while awaiting trial. Others are serving sentences for misdemeanors or low-level felonies, or are incarcerated for violating the conditions of their supervision.

As a growing number of poor, vulnerable and sick people are jailed in Indiana, counties are also doubling down on incarceration by building new and bigger jails.

What Jails Cost Indiana will offer a granular look at 2019 jail spending data for 77 of Indiana’s 92 counties and include a calculator that allows users to estimate the potential cost savings from reducing the local jail population—that is, people held pretrial and serving misdemeanor sentences. Join the Vera Institute of Justice on October 5th for a preview of the embargoed (until 10/12 at 12:00am EST) findings and a discussion of the state and local policy reforms that could safely reduce incarceration.

Note: Jail data from the following counties is not included in the publication because budget data was not publicly available or reliably comprehensive: Bartholomew, Boone, DeKalb, Elkhart, Floyd, Fountain, Hamilton, Jennings, LaGrange, Marion, Noble, Ohio, Owen, Parke, Pulaski.

WHEN: Tuesday, October 5th, 2021 from 10:30am – 11:30am EST.

WHERE: Register for the Virtual Event Here

WHO: Jasmine Heiss, Director, In Our Backyards Initiative, Vera Institute of Justice

Bea Halbach-Singh, Research Associate, In Our Backyards Initiative, Vera Institute of Justice

Monica Smith, Associate Director, In Our Backyards Initiative, Vera Institute of Justice