Three out of every four inmates in the Allen County jail have not been convicted of a crime.
That’s according to statistics on 2015 jail populations from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Sheriff David Gladieux tells the Journal Gazette the numbers have always been that way, with the number of those who haven’t yet faced trial outnumbering those who have been convicted.
Even so, about a year ago Allen County formalized a program to release non-violent offenders without bail, as long as police don’t believe them to be either a flight risk or a “violent threat” to themselves or others. The offenders are told to return on their court date.
