Report slams Indy prison conditions

INDIANAPOLIS -- Prisoners and staff at the Marion County Community Corrections Center must endure conditions that include poor sanitation, a suspect emergency sprinkler system and breathing air from moldy ventilation, a state report said.\nThe report by the Indiana Department of Correction found feces leaked from toilets, an emergency sprinkler system might not work in the event of a fire and inmates can shut off the sprinklers without staff knowledge, The Indianapolis Star reported Thursday.\nSecurity problems could put employees, inmates and the public at risk, the report said. Some staff members take keys home with them and no security guards are posted at the building's front entrance.\nExecutive Director Brian Barton attributed some of the problems to the center being housed in a century-old downtown building that it moved into 17 years ago. Plumbing problems, for example, are in large part due to porcelain toilets being installed on wooden floors.\nThe center has a capacity for 340 prisoners and as many as 3,000 pass through its doors during a year's time for services including house arrest, work-release and day-reporting programs, Barton said.\nIts board, including judges and Marion County's chief public defender, decided last fall to ask for the state review and to decrease the prisoner population so repairs could be made, Barton said. It currently houses about 200.\n"We were extremely aware of this and sensitive to this and said we have to put a stop this," said Barton, the center's executive director for 10 years.\nRep. Mike Murphy, R-Indianapolis, said he planned to introduce legislation in the House that would require detention center directors to have criminology degrees.\n"In a normal situation, a health department would come in, shut this place down immediately and transfer these people to a safe environment," Murphy said.