INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana has yet to see any savings as the result of a plan to revise the sentencing system and divert low-level offenders out of state prisons and into local jails or programs.
The plan by lawmakers aimed to save money that would be passed on to help units of government with increased costs. But Indiana Department of Correction spokesman Doug Garrison tells The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette that not enough time has passed to be able to determine how much money has been saved.
Since Jan. 1, the adult population within the state prison population has dropped by more than 2 percent.
At the same time, the number of the lowest-level felony offenders at local jails has jumped from 342 to more than 1,000.