Howard County raises salaries of jail staff

Tyler Juranovich, Kokomo Tribune, Ind.
·2 min read

Howard County corrections officers' salaries are increasing by more than 5%.

The County Council last week unanimously approved an additional appropriation of $55,911.60 to increase the annual salary for a corrections officer at the Howard County Jail to $49,791, from $47,099 and to raise the budgeted number of corrections officers from 42 to 45.

The approval comes after a request by the Howard County Sheriff’s Office several weeks ago and after the County Council approved a 10% pay raise for all sheriff's office employees for 2024.

The new salary brings parity between the county corrections officers and dispatchers.

Christina Kline, personnel administrator for the sheriff’s office, said the jail is fully staffed at 42, with three more ready to do their testing.

“So if we can get the three more positions, we can hire all three of those, and it will feel amazing for everyone who works here,” Kline said.

A full staff is a marked improvement from two months ago when Howard County Sheriff Jerry Asher said the jail had 35 corrections officers.

It wasn’t unusual for county corrections officers to have to work several hours of overtime, leading to burnout of many employees.

Last year, the county averaged 34 employed corrections officers and spent between $600,000 to $700,000 in overtime.

Why the improvement?

Kline chalked it up to the county sending some inmates out of the county to other in-state jails that have available space, which, in turn, lightens the load for the corrections officers at the jail.

Kline said a corrections officer who used to work for the county and was recently rehired this year told her it is now much better working at the county jail because the inmate population isn’t as high as it has been the last several years.

“He said it makes a huge difference working here without having people fighting over what was available,” Kline said.

As of July 23, the Howard County Jail’s inmate population was 312 in-house and 87 at other in-state jails.

Sending inmates to jails outside of Howard County comes at a cost to the county, though.

Indiana state code mandates the county transferring the inmate be responsible for providing transportation, pay the other jail a per diem for each inmate to cover the daily cost of housing and “any additional costs reasonably necessary to maintain the health and welfare of a transferred inmate.”

Last week, the County Council approved an additional appropriation of $500,000 to help cover the cost of housing inmates outside of the county.

The county’s efforts to keep its jail population at or below capacity comes at a time when it’s being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana over alleged overcrowding and constitutional violation at the Howard County Jail.