ABOUT THE JAIL

The La Porte County Jail has an inmate capacity of 368. The average daily population is 306. That is a 1% decrease from 2020.

In 2021, the Jail Staff operated quite well given the circumstances. The pandemic continued to cause staffing issues while we had employees testing positive. The result was that $169,097.04 were spent in overtime monies. This amount was a decrease of $45,610.12 from the previous year. A total of eighteen (18) new employees were hired. In addition, some of the overtime costs were created by medical emergencies, illnesses, FMLA and inmate transports. Some of the vacancies were caused by Jail Deputies being hired by the La Porte County Sheriff’s Office as a Merit Deputy or by other agencies as a law enforcement officer. This demonstrates that the La Porte County Jail continues to provide training and quality performance that prepares our deputies for career advancement. Other vacancies were created by Jail Deputies who resigned for various reasons. In 2021, we were able to appropriate an additional Jail Deputy position, which we filled. We have noticed the benefit of this in reduced overtime costs.

In 2021, the employees of the Jail Division received 5,318.25 hours of training. This number equates to an average of 73.86 hours of training received per employee. The state minimum requirement for annual training hours is 16. A total of eighteen (18) new jail employees were hired in 2021. The new employees received a total of 3,065.75 hours of training prior to working a duty assignment by themselves. This number equates to an average of 170.32 hours of training received per new employee. The state-minimum requirement for new officer on-the-job training hours prior to working a post on their own is 80.

Please see our 2021 - Jail Annual Report for more detailed information.

Jail History

The La Porte County Sheriff's Office was established in 1832 under the direction of its first Sheriff, Benjamin McCarty. During his term, the first jail was contracted to be built in 1833 for $460. It was a log building measuring 22' x 16' and was located on what is now the courthouse plaza. The succeeding jail was a plank building built in 1841 or 1842 in the same location. In 1857, the next jail, a brick structure, was erected on State Street next to Shafer's Laundry. It was razed to make way for a heating and lighting plant. It had been vacant for seven years due to construction of the fourth jail in 1907. The jail was built of Bedford stone in approximately the same location where the Foster and DeGarmo livery barn stood. In 1977, an eight-million-dollar modern facility, the La Porte County Annex and Security Complex, was completed. Along with several other county agencies, it was the new location for the La Porte County Jail and Sheriff's Office.
On January 18th, 2002, the construction of a new five story addition to the Security Complex began. The project allowed expansion from a 135-bed jail to 350 beds. The building site is in the location of the old Schafer's Laundry building, which was razed to make way for the expansion. During its 175+ year history, great progress has been made in the fields of corrections and law enforcement in La Porte County.