Lawmakers Get Warnings Indiana Prisons Are Nearing Capacity

State lawmakers serving on the Interim Study Committee on Corrections learned in testimony Thursday that Indiana’s prison population is getting close to capacity.

The Indiana Department of Correction’s Margaux Auxier says the state had a drastic inmate population drop during the COVID-19 pandemic but says they have more than 25-thousand now behind bars.

She says that it puts the state at over 95-percent capacity and says prisons are continuing to fill up.

Auxier says people are also being sentenced to longer prison terms.