ANDERSON, Ind. -- A central Indiana county is hiring more jail staffers and repairing the jail's faulty air-conditioning after the sheriff warned overcrowding and heat had turned the lockup into a "powder keg."
The Madison County Jail in Anderson is so overcrowded 40 inmates sleep on its floor every night, while temperatures inside hover in the mid-80s.
The Madison County Council agreed Tuesday to allocate $81,000 to hire four part-time employees and approved transferring $80,000 to buy and install new air-conditioner compressors.
The Herald Bulletin reports Sheriff Scott Mellinger said the extra staffers were needed to bring the jail into line with the most recent state recommendations for staffing.
Mellinger says the overcrowding, heat and many inmates struggling with mental illness and addiction had turned his jail into "a powder keg."
