Who Are We Afraid of? Indiana's Criminal Reform and How It Fails to Address Those with Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorder

Abstract

According to Indiana Representative Greg Steuerwald, the author of House Enrolled Act 1006 (“HEA 1006”), the quote above was the mission of Indiana’s first criminal reform effort in over thirty years. The Act includes keeping nonviolent offenders out of the “scarce prison space” so dangerous offenders can be kept in prison longer. Consequently, low-level offenders with mental illness and substance use disorders are siphoned into county jails without effective rehabilitation treatment. As a result, county jails are overcrowded and Indiana’s criminal reform is failing to address the root cause—lack of treatment for individuals with mental illness and substance use disorder. HEA 1006 was meant to reduce prison overcrowding, but it increased jail overcrowding. Jail commanders report that their jails are filled with more individuals that have drug-related charges than before the enactment of HEA 1006. In an attempt to thwart jail overcrowding, the Indiana Supreme Court signed an order adopting Rule 26 of the Indiana Rules of Criminal Procedure (“Rule 26”), the state’s effort to join several states across the nation that have adopted pretrial reform. The Rule requires Indiana courts to “utilize the results