Allen County Sheriff’s race hitting on topics like drug overdoses in the jail

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - Three candidates running for Allen County Sheriff are weighing in on the jail overdose issue in the county jail, along with what changes they would make in their first days as sheriff.

Republicans Troy Hershberger and Mitch McKinney and democrat Kevin Hunter are all running for sheriff. With the job comes a huge undertaking including dealing with the recent overdoses in the jail.

”You know the first thing is to be transparent. You have to get in-front of issues when they come apparent. What folks don’t know, There were two people that overdosed that night. One died and one was put back in the general population later and not navigated back in. So if you know that there is active narcotics in the jail, when someone has perished and someone else is going back, why are we not trying to have services to take care of that?”

Candidate Kevin Hunter, who is a captain with the Fort Wayne Police Department says he would like to implement a drug recovery program to combat the problem.

“I really want to incorporate a jail chemical addictions program in the Allen County jail. I think it’s going to helpful not only for the inmates to get connected to treatment services, but also for the community overall.”

A new jail has been a big discussion lately, and all three candidates believe we need a new one, but each has a different way of tackling the layout and rollout.

”It’s been one of those things discussed obviously with a discussion of a new jail coming. The addictions go hand in hand with mental illness. There will be, when we do this and if we get to the point of builduing a jail. We will do a pod system and dedicate a pod to addiction and the mental health side of things.”

Hershberger and McKinney will face off in the May primary, while Hunter will run unopposed.

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