Why Allen County Jail Is Building a New Facility: What Families Should Know About Overcrowding

Allen County Jail has 732 beds, but the county must keep the daily population at 622 or below to avoid being legally classified as overcrowded. That gap explains why the jail feels strained even when the bed count sounds adequate on paper. This isn't new. The current jail opened already over its rated capacity and has run at roughly 80% full since day one. The system has been operating close to the edge for years, which makes it hard to absorb normal booking spikes without crowding pressures building fast.

Adding onto the existing building sounds like the obvious fix, but the county says it wouldn't solve the problem. One option on the table was building two additional floors on part of the jail - that would add 226 beds and raise the overcrowding threshold to 822 people. Even with that extra space, the county's five-year census review concluded an expansion wouldn't end overcrowding. Their concern: with a target of 822, the jail would hit capacity - and likely exceed it - the day the addition opened. That's the core argument for building new rather than stretching the current footprint.

The new facility is designed for a target capacity of 1,300 beds. The goal is to create enough headroom so the jail isn't immediately bumping against overcrowding limits. But the county frames this as more than a numbers game. The planned building is meant to handle needs the current jail struggles to meet - especially when population is high and space is tight.

For families, the key takeaway: the county is planning space meant to reduce crowding pressure while supporting care and separation needs that are hard to manage in a packed building. The new jail will include more room for physical and mental health services, plus sensory-friendly areas for people with certain mental health concerns. You may hear staff or your loved one mention "pods" and classification more often as the transition unfolds. Some pods will be female-only, and restrictions prevent certain offender levels from being housed together. These separations are about safety and management - but they also mean not every bed is interchangeable. That last point matters when you're trying to make sense of capacity numbers. At any given time, some beds will sit empty because of segregation requirements and care-related space needs. So while the headline number (1,300 beds) signals more room overall, the day-to-day usable population will still depend on how people must be housed.

Open Questions

• ✓ When the new facility is expected to open, and what the timeline looks like for construction
• ✓ How moves will work if people are relocated during the transition (and how families will be notified)
• ✓ What the county expects the day-to-day operational capacity to be (usable beds vs. total beds)
• ✓ Whether visitation procedures, schedules, or locations will change once the new facility comes online