CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) – A sheriff in northwest Indiana says a county jail could be released from oversight by the U.S. Department of Justice later this year.

The Lake County sheriff tells The (Munster) Times (http://bit.ly/1cuCkyx ) that the county's jail is closer to the end of a costly six-year intervention meant to improve medical services and sanitation.

In 2009, the Justice Department's civil rights division said the Lake County Jail was deficient according to federal standards after a rash of suicides and a disease outbreak amid overcrowding.

The jail's annual budget has ballooned from $13.6 million in 2009 to $24 million this year.

The sheriff says a county-paid consultant could watch over the jail's performance next year if the jail remains in compliance. After that, he says all federal contact could cease.