INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ A western Indiana sheriff facing a new lawsuit over jail overcrowding has transferred 45 prisoners to another jail.
Vigo County Sheriff Greg Ewing said Wednesday he had ordered the transfers from his lockup in Terre Haute to the Knox County Jail in Vincennes while his staff works to reduce the number of prisoners it holds.
The county settled a federal lawsuit about 12 years ago by agreeing to limit the jail population to 268 inmates, but the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana said in a new lawsuit last week the county wasn't abiding by the deal. An Indiana Department of Correction audit last October found the Vigo jail population had swollen to 293.
ACLU attorney Ken Falk says he looks forward to a long-term solution at the jail.
