Suit brings change in jail bookings

LAGRANGE A looming settlement in a federal class-action lawsuit has forced some Indiana jails to change the way they handle bookings, even as similar lawsuits work their way through the states courts.

Lawsuits have been filed in at least five counties alleging violations of Fourth Amendment rights. A lawsuit involving a LaGrange County man and woman who were arrested in 2008 near a meth lab is expected to be the first to be settled. Suits also are pending in Allen, Whitley, Clark and St. Joseph counties.

The cases have focused largely on the cost of loss of liberty and have exposed jail policies that violate the Constitution, The Times of Northwest Indiana reported.

In Whitley County, for instance, Huntington resident Lawrence Bickel sued the sheriff in 2008 after he was arrested without a warrant on a Thursday in 2006. Bickels detention was not judged to have probable cause until the following Monday, because the county had a policy of taking arrestees to court just once a week regardless of when they were detained.

In LaGrange County, where Amanda Strunk and Joshua Cleveland were held for three and seven days, respectively, Sheriff Terry Martin blamed the violations on the countys prosecutor and two judges.

We found out there was a problem. We corrected the problem, Martin said of a new policy he said was crafted with the cooperation of everyone but outgoing Prosecutor Jeff Wible. Everybody agreed on it except for one person.

The new policy requires his officers to sometimes lengthen their shifts to finish paperwork related to arrests by not only their departments officers, but others, as well.

Theres a lot of paperwork in law enforcement as it is, Martin said. Weve just added on.

Attorney Christopher Myers, of Fort Wayne, the lead attorney for plaintiffs in the lawsuits, said case law makes it clear that a sheriff is responsible for enforcing Fourth Amendment rights because he holds the key to the jail.

Myers said his law firm researched the issue after hearing from inmates around the state complaining their jail stints were too long.

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Suit brings change in jail bookings