Indiana lawmakers heard stark warnings this week that the state’s prison population is again nearing capacity while funding for local alternatives is shrinking.

Margaux Auxier, with the Indiana Department of Correction, on Thursday told the state’s Interim Study Committee on Corrections that the agency’s incarcerated population dipped during the pandemic but is now back on the rise.

“We saw during COVID-19 that our numbers drastically dropped … our population did dip quite a bit during that time period,” she told the panel, which is made up of lawmakers, prosecutors, public defenders and other corrections-related officials.

She said DOC recorded 22,000 inmates at its low but that the state now has more than 25,000 individuals in custody, with facilities operating at more than 95% capaci

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