Boone County Council member Elise Nieshalla said she wants to play a part in planning the county’s long-term future by serving another four years.
“We have set a lot of initiatives in motion recently,” Nieshalla said. “We have been working to set into motion more of a long-term vision for county infrastructure, but we are also looking at long-term planning for the backside of justice. The county has a responsibility for community corrections, probation, the jail, the court, the prosecutor’s office, and with the continued growth in the population of our county, we have to continually be looking at those services we provide.”
Nieshalla said the county can implement findings from other governing bodies, such as the Indiana Supreme Court, which established Criminal Rule 26. The rule mandates that if an arrestee does not present a substantial flight risk or danger to themself or others, the court should release the them without a cash bond or surety unless they are charged with murder, treason, is on pretrial release not related to the arrest or is on probation, parole or other community supervision.
“They were finding that people were in jail because they couldn’t pay their bond,” Nieshalla said. “And when they finally got sentenced, their sentence was, perhaps, half the time they spent in jail because they couldn’t pay their bond.”
Nieshalla said the county has the opportunity to take cues from the Indiana Supreme Court to make sure such instances don’t happen in Boone County.
Nieshalla, who is unopposed in the Nov. 3 general election, grew up on the northeast side of Indianapolis before moving to Zionsville.
