Clinton County judge gets it

Last week, Clinton County Judge Linley Pearson was in Carroll Circuit Court as a special judge to decide if the former county employee, who served as the county health nurse for more than five years before being criminally charged, should go to jail for several probation violations. Pearson, not a resident of Carroll County, seemed to be sympathetic to the financial plight of the county when he ordered jail time for the criminal to be served in the Indiana Department of Correction (DOC).

That move meant that, although the prisoner would likely be housed in the local jail, Carroll County would be reimbursed for costs associated with housing her until her release.

Judge Pearson could have just as easily remanded the prisoner to the Carroll County Jail to serve her 90- day sentence. His tax dollars were not being used for her upkeep and maintenance. When DOC picks up the tab, our state tax dollars are spent…so in essence the judge will now share the cost of incarceration.

We expect our own Carroll County judges to make similar fiscal decisions. Any cost saving to the county at this particular juncture in time is a step in the right direction.