A change in policy by Indiana's Department of Corrections (DOC) has caused a change in the way the Adams County Sheriff's Department will handle medical bills for inmates who have been sentenced to the DOC by local courts, but have not yet been transferred to the custody of the DOC.
Sheriff Chuck Padgett told the commissioners on Monday that, last Friday, he was told by a DOC representative that the policy going back many years of billing the DOC for medical expenses incurred by inmates between sentencing to the DOC and delivery to a DOC facility is no longer being allowed.
Instead, Padgett said, the costs for such medical expenses are being placed on the county, although the county will file for - and will receive, the sheriff said - reimbursement for such costs from the DOC.

The DOC reimbursements will be processed through the sheriff's department, with the money going into the county's general fund, said Padgett, adding that the money received from the DOC earlier in a year will likely be used later in that year as the sheriff's department's medical account is used up.

He said that if there are not enough DOC payments during a year, he would have to request an additional appropriation to pay those inmate medical bills late in the year.

The good news, Padgett reported, is that the jail commander, Jerry Amstutz, is alert to which inmates have medical problems and is quick to contact the DOC about transferring such people as soon as possible after they are sentenced.