Our History starts on April 4, 1836.
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Isaac Kirkendall was elected this day to be the first Kosciusko CountySheriff. Born in Virginia on January 15, 1787. He served as Sheriff from1836 to 1839. The office/jail was a log cabin and served its purpose quite well for the times.
In 1871 a new jail was built on the corner of Indiana and Main Street. It was used until the justice building was constructed in the 1980's. The old jail now serves as home to the Kosciusko County Historical Society.
In 1979, officials approved plans for a new Court/Sheriff's Department/Jail Complex. Ground breaking for this Sheriff's Department and Jail began on May 2, 1980 with completion around May 3, 1982. After the construction, things changed for the Sheriff's Department. One thing was the "new" technology' that was put in the jail. It was an 88 bed facility with black and white video monitoring cameras in 8 cell blocks and 6 hold cells. Another was filling all those beds. )
After a decade or more, the jail out grew its capacity. It was not uncommon to have 130 inmates housed at the jail on any given day(1999).
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2001 brought yet another expansion to the Sheriff's Department Jail. Overcrowding being a large issue and the state of condition for the facility. In 2003 a 294 bed Jail and new Sheriff's Department were built from the existing structure. State of the art electronics help observe the inmates and perimeter of the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department. Large and spacious cell blocks were installed in the renovation, along with the newer cells, improvements to security and consistancy were part of the package.
