COMPARISON

Sentenced to prison, still in the county jail, and still no family visits

As of Sept. 2, 258 people sentenced to Indiana prisons were waiting in Marion County's jail, where families can visit only by video, while the prisons they are headed to let families visit in person.

By Kate Vale · September 29, 2026

On September 2, the Marion County Adult Detention Center held 258 people who had already been sentenced to state prison, "almost 10% of the jail's total inmate population," according to WFYI. State law says people convicted of a Level 6 felony or worse are to be moved to the Indiana Department of Correction "within five days after conviction." The Sheriff's Office has sued the department, asking a judge to require transfers within five days and to move the people already waiting right away. Statewide, WFYI has reported nearly 1,000 people waiting in county jails, "sometimes for months."

That lawsuit is a dispute between two government offices, and this post takes no side in it. What it leaves out is the families. While a person waits, the building he sleeps in decides whether his family can sit across a table from him.

Two buildings, two sets of rules

The county jail. According to the Sheriff's Office visitation page, friends and family visit by remote video only, and the office "will no longer conduct 'walk-in' visits." In-person visits are listed for attorneys and other professionals. Family video visits must be booked one to four days ahead. A visit canceled with less than 24 hours' notice counts as completed, and repeated no-shows can lead to a suspension. This has been the rule since the jail opened in 2022.

State prison. The Indiana Department of Correction's visitation page encourages "traditional forms of visitation (contact and non-contact)," and adds that "alternative video visitation may be made available to help facilitate persons unable to travel to facilities." Visitors register and are approved before scheduling "in-person and online visits," and each prison posts its own visiting days and times.

The same person, with the same sentence, can see his family in person in one building and only on a screen in the other.

What that looked like for my family

My son lives with serious mental illness and spent nine months in that jail. In those nine months our family never had a single visit with him, in person or by video. I saw him only in brief glimpses across a courtroom at his few hearings.

When he was moved to state prison, I could visit him in person again. The prison found a way to let us in. The county jail had not, and four years after it opened, it still has not.

Where the candidates already agree

Both candidates for sheriff want state-sentenced people moved out of the jail. Tom Vaughn told WFYI's voter guide that people "who are convicted of a crime and are supposed to go off to prison" can "end up staying" in the jail "for years." Kelvis Williams told Mirror Indy's voter guide, "I support the pending litigation to take the more than 200 state convicts out of the ADC." That is real common ground, and it would help these families.

Faster transfers would not help everyone else. About nine in ten people in the jail are not waiting for prison. Many are awaiting trial. Some are in the jail's mental health units. They are the people for whom a familiar face matters most, and they are not headed to a prison visiting room any time soon.

Neither candidate has said publicly whether families should be able to visit in person while people wait, or whether the jail's visiting room should reopen for everyone. I have asked both of them in writing. I will publish their answers here.

A small first step

Transfers depend on the state. Visits depend on the Sheriff's Office. The office does not need to win a lawsuit to let the families of state-sentenced people visit in the way the state will allow the moment they arrive. That could start with a single visiting day a week, and it could include the mental health units from the start.

What should change

While transfers are delayed, the Sheriff's Office should offer in-person family visits to people already sentenced to state prison, matching what the Indiana Department of Correction allows.
In-person visits should also start in the jail's mental health units, where video is hardest for people in crisis.
At its Sept. 30 budget review and the Oct. 5 hearing, the City-County Council should ask the Sheriff's Office for a plan and timeline to restore in-person family visits for everyone.
Both candidates for sheriff should tell voters before Nov. 3 whether they will restore in-person visits, and by when.
Video visits should stay, as one choice among two.

You can send a short written comment to your City-County Councilor before October 5. The Council votes on the budget on October 19, voters choose a new sheriff on November 3, and the new sheriff takes office January 1.

Sources

Kate Vale, a mother in the gallery