Indiana Tax Court Special Judge Heather A. Welch ruled in favor of the Allen County government on Friday regarding the plan to fund building the new Allen County Jail.
The ruling ended the lawsuit brought against the county by a community activist group called Allen County Residents Against the Jail. The group felt the county’s plan to use the historic Allen County Courthouse as collateral for a construction bond was not legal and filed to stop the plan from being implemented.
Welch disagreed. In her ruling, she said state law authorizes the courthouse sale/leaseback transaction and upheld the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance’s approval.
Building a new jail is the Allen County government’s accepted long-term solution to a federal court order to address unconstitutional conditions at the current Allen County Jail in downtown Fort Wayne, including overcrowding and aging infrastructure.
Friday’s ruling came nearly the same time status reports were due in that federal case.
In its report, the Allen County Sheriff’s office reported a decrease in the jail population, saying from July to August, the population averaged a total of 682 inmates, and from August to September, it dropped to a daily average of 647 inmates.
The ACLU supported that report in its status update, reporting since June, the average inmate population at the jail has gone down from 738 inmates to 647 in September.
However, the ACLU also pointed out that that 647 number is still higher than the 622 maximum population the federal court order allowed. The group was contemplating filing for a mandatory prisoner release from the Allen County Jail, but in its status report said “Given the reduction in population, the plaintiffs do not believe it is appropriate to seek such an order at this time.”
The ACLU was prepared to resume that effort if the Indiana Tax Court did not rule in favor of the county government soon.
In a statement responding to the Tax Court ruling, Allen County Commissioners’ Chief of Staff Chris Cloud said, “Clearly, this is good news. It is definitely a step in the right direction. However, we need to review this with our legal team.”
The Allen County Residents Against the Jail could appeal the ruling. They could not be reached for comment.
The tax court lawsuit delayed the start of construction of the new jail for months. The Allen County Commissioners could not say when they plan to break ground.
