State’s courts seek additional $12M over next two years for improved security, technology
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The Indiana Supreme Court is seeking an additional $12 million over the next two years to fund a statewide jail management system, improve security at courthouses across the state and further develop safe-baby courts.
All five Indiana Supreme Court Justices attended the hearing with the State Budget Committee on Tuesday as lawmakers prepare to craft a new two-year state budget in 2025.
Chief Justice Loretta Rush spoke on behalf of the Indiana Supreme Court in requesting an additional $3 million per year to fund the INJail management system, a new appropriation of $1.5 million per year to fund security measures and and additional $1.5 million for safe-baby problem-solving courts.
INJail is an effort to simplify jail placements and releases that are now run on about 20 different systems and can lead to communication breakdowns. It was developed in response to the 2019 Jail Overcrowding Task Force Report and was initially funded by federal grants.
But now state funding is needed to further develop and sustain the program, Rush said.
Rush said an additional $3 million also is needed over the next two years for the ongoing development of safe-baby problem-solving courts. Those courts focus on addressing the needs of families who have a child in need of services who is three years old or younger by providing the family with support services.
Currently, there are 159 courts statewide, 138 certified problem-solving courts and an additional 21 problem-solving courts in the works.
Rush said the courts also see a need for increased security as threats against the judiciary continue to escalate.
“I know the level of the threat the judiciary are seeing right now have never been so high. I can attest to that myself,” Rush said. “We are asking for this to get [help for] those counties that don’t have any security.”
In a handout that was given to State Budget Committee members, one judge notes that a litigant threatened to blow up his house and even brandished a firearm during a remote proceeding conducted on the internet. Another judge recalled a litigant who threatened to set the judge himself on fire.
In December 2023, the Court Security Committee polled judges from across the state. There were 214 judges who participated. Of those judges 159 stated they had been the target of a threat.