Candidate Q&A

What are the top issues you will address as sheriff?

I wish to continue the good work that has been started by my predecessors. I intend to focus on the following:

• Safer Communities Through Accountability & Rehabilitation Commitment to safe, humane detention while expanding reentry programs, reducing recidivism, and investing in youth diversion, education, and mentorship to break cycles of crime.
• Strict monitoring of the sex and violent offenders we are mandated to supervise in our county.
• Strong Workforce & Smarter Public Safety Partnerships Support deputies with better training, pay, and wellness resources while strengthening collaboration with local and state agencies to deliver effective, coordinated public safety.

People often experience mental health issues, substance abuse or homelessness and end up in the Marion County Jail instead of treatment. How would you manage this as sheriff? What policies would you enact?

We continue to see the Marion County Adult Detention Center serving as one of the largest mental health and substance abuse treatment centers in the county. The state of Indiana needs to take responsibility for providing care to this segment of our population through dedicated programs and facilities for those in need.

A recent investigation found the city’s public hospital is arresting people every 2 to 3 days. Sheriff Forestal said he was concerned about hospital police “putting hands” on people experiencing mental illness. Do you share his concerns? What actions will you take about this issue, if any?

I have shared my opinion that I wish there were better care facilities provided and funded by the state of Indiana for those who struggle with mental health and substance abuse. While I cannot control what other law enforcement agencies in Marion County do, my hope for the sake of those they come in contact with is that they will exercise discretion and do their best to find proper care for those in need as opposed to arresting them where possible.

Overcrowding has long been an issue in the jail. How would you address this issue?

Overcrowding of our Adult Detention Center (ADC) poses a threat to the safety of those in our care as well as for our staff. While I cannot control who is arrested by other agencies or who is remanded/sentenced to the ADC by the court system, I hope to maintain an open dialog with these agencies and the courts so we understand each others’ agencies better.

By talking and working with them, I would hope we can keep an eye on our inmate population so as to explore options that keep overcrowding down but still maintain the safety of the community and citizens we collectively serve. Also, I support the pending litigation to take the more than 200 state convicts out of the ADC. And I support legislation to make the State of Indiana pay for the entire cost of housing IDOC convicts. Such legislation would substantially address the overcrowding issue.

What is your approach to immigration enforcement and working with ICE in the jail?

As the sheriff of Marion County, my oath of office would require me to follow the laws of Indiana just as Sheriff Forestal has done.