Columbus police said they are investigating a reported bomb threat and hoax explosive device found in the parking lot of a local mental health provider, prompting an evacuation.

On Tuesday, Columbus Police Department officers were dispatched to Centerstone, 720 N. Marr Rd., after employees reported a suspicious item in the provider’s parking lot that they thought could be a bomb.

When officers arrived, they set up a perimeter around the item, which was located about 50 feet from the building and evacuated Centerstone, CPD said in a statement.

The CPD Hazardous Devices Unit determined it was likely not an explosive device, and the item was taken to a safe location to determine what it was, CPD said.

Upon examining the items, investigators believe someone used household items to make a “hoax device” that appeared to be an explosive from the outside but was not a real explosive device.

Over the course of the investigation, officers also learned that “an employee (at Centerstone) had received a message threatening to blow up the building” last week, CPD said.

Currently, the investigation remains ongoing to determine how the hoax device was placed in the parking lot and to look into the threat made last week, CPD said.

Columbus Regional Health announced Tuesday that it will implement hospital visitation restrictions starting next week, citing a rise in respiratory infections ahead of holiday gatherings.

CRH officials said the county hospital system has seen a recent increase in people with respiratory viruses coming through its emergency department and outpatient settings.

So far, the biggest jump in cases has been with flu, though officials have seen cases of COVID-19 and RSV. Hospitalizations at CRH have remained “pretty stable,” officials said.

“With people gathering for the holidays in the next couple days/weeks, and lower vaccination rates, this is a crucial time,” CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue told The Republic on Tuesday. “We ask that everyone be extra diligent with symptom awareness, hand hygiene, masking if you’ve had symptoms or live around someone with symptoms, etc.”

Starting Monday, CRH will limit visitation at the hospital campus in Columbus to people ages 18 years and up, as well as no more than two visitors per patient at a time. Visitation hours will remain unchanged.

Visitors may rotate in most cases, although special exceptions may apply depending on patient circumstance or unit/department requirements, the hospital said.

The hospital said the following guidelines will also be implemented:

• Visitors having symptoms suggestive of illness (including, but not limited to: cough, fever, shortness of breath, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, diarrhea, tiredness, headache, or vomiting) will not be allowed to visit and will be respectfully asked to leave for the safety of our patients and staff.
• Visitors may be asked to wear a mask in patient rooms when requested.
• Birthing Center and Pediatrics/Women & Children’s
• For the Birthing Center, patients must identify, upon arrival, two primary support persons to be present while in labor, and no more than four additional individuals who will be permitted visitation rights during their stay (this number does not include the “primary support persons”).
• For the Level 2 Nursery, only the two individuals with an ID band matching the infant’s band will be allowed to visit. There will be no additional visitors allowed in the Level 2 Nursery.
• Birthing Center & Pediatrics (Women & Children) visitation is allowed between the hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. There will be no visitors allowed between 2 a.m./p.m. and 4 a.m./p.m. due to maternal rest time.
• Visitation amendments may be made in extenuating circumstances at the discretion of unit leadership.

The announcement from CRH comes one day after Franciscan Health issued visitation restrictions at hospitals in central Indiana due to increased respiratory virus activity.

Franciscan Health hospitals in Indianapolis, Mooresville and Carmel implemented updated visitation restrictions this week in inpatient areas. The following policy went into effect on Monday:

• Visitors must be at least 18 years old
• Only two visitors per patient are allowed to visit at a time (excluding clergy who are part of the care team).
• Those having symptoms suggestive of respiratory illness, including, but not limited to cough, fever, shortness of breath, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, diarrhea, tiredness, headache and vomiting, will not be allowed to visit.
• If visiting a patient who has respiratory symptoms, visitors are asked to keep a mask on and do not visit the cafeteria, coffee and gift shops or waiting rooms.
• Visitors should continue to practice good hand hygiene.
• Visitation hours are from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The updated policies are being implemented with input from Franciscan Alliance leadership and in accordance with guidelines from the Marion County Public Health Department, the hospital system said.

Franciscan Health also urged everyone ages 6 months and older to get a flu shot, saying that vaccination is “the first and most important step for protecting against flu viruses.” RSV vaccines are also strongly encouraged, Franciscan said..

By Niki Kelly | Indiana Capital Chronicle

Bundled in tan prison garb and coats emblazoned with “ICE,” dozens of immigrant detainees at Miami Correctional Facility played cards and checkers in a common room outside their cells.

In another building, dozens more — largely from Latin American nations — participated in online court hearings and met with attorneys.

The 550-plus men currently being held on the sprawling campus about 65 miles north of Indianapolis also have access to two chow halls, indoor recreation space and religious services.

“We are making sure we are giving detainees the resources they need,” said Indiana Department of Correction Commissioner Lloyd Arnold.

And he is “absolutely confident that it’s not going to cost state of Indiana’s taxpayers a dime.”

He and Warden Brian English last week gave the Capital Chronicle an hour tour — the first news media inside the facility. No photos were allowed behind the walls.

The state is now in its third month of a two-year contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Indiana officialsapproved $16 million for facility upgrades in September after the state signed an agreement allowing up to 1,000 immigrants to be held there. The state will receive a daily payment of $291 per detainee — almost four times the $75 daily per-person cost for inmates at the Miami Correctional Facility.

It is a high-medium security prison holding only men.

At that meeting, Democratic legislators expressed concerns about civil rights and access to legal services. Since then, faith groups and nonprofits have gathered for monthly prayer vigils outside the prison along U.S. 31 near Grissom Air Reserve Base.

“We pray for those being detained and also the immigrant community overall,” said Senior Pastor Matt Landry of the Castleton United Methodist Church. “We want to raise concerns for how detainees and families are treated in the system.”

The next event is set for Jan. 26.

Inside the facility

The state received an initial $6 million payment from the federal government but nothing since then. DOC billed for October, but the payment was delayed due to the federal shutdown. November billing goes out soon.

The immigration detainees are kept separate from about 1,800 state prisoners who are held in an identical set of buildings.

As of Wednesday, about 811 detainees have moved through the center with a current census of 558. But it is constantly changing as ICE brings in more menfrom around the nation and sends others back to their home countries.

Arnold said none of the men have pending criminal cases; otherwise, they would be in county jails awaiting trial. They are there for immigration violations, though he acknowledged some of them served “serious time” in other jurisdictions, at other points in their lives.

Miami is considered a long-term facility by ICE, holding the men for three days or more. The average stay was expected to be about three weeks but is running at about a month now.

English, the prison’s warden, said he declined detainees a few times as operations with ICE were ramping up in October. But now buses come from the Indianapolis International Airport daily. The facility receives about 20 detainees a day and releases about seven a day.

English expects to be fully operational by summer, which largely depends on staffing.

Among the upgrades was the creation of an intake center out of a storage area. Buses pull directly up to the back of the building and the men are processed. That includes health screenings.

While the detainees aren’t allowed access to educational services, there is an area for religious services, like a Catholic Mass in Spanish. Visitors are allowed up to one hour a week.

If detainees are in their cells, they have televisions and computer tablets. The tablets can be used to call family, communicate with attorneys, order from the commissary, listen to controlled music and watch select movies. Prisoners have the same tablets.

The detainee cells open out onto a large area with tables where the men can socialize and play games. They get up to five hours of recreation time per week.

The outdoor basketball court is currently covered in snow, but an indoor court and billiards tables are available.

The recreation building also contains a large, locked area for detainees’ personal property.

English said because the men are being removed from the country, they bring many more belongings than traditional inmates.

He also thinks the detainees have a different outlook than the prisoners set to serve decades behind bars who might feel hopeless about their futures.

Bad reputation

Miami’s prison operations have been criticized for excessive violence and drug trafficking in recent investigations by the Indianapolis Star.

But English could think of only two fights in the immigration detention space.

“Every now and then bunkees get mad at each other,” he said.

Jeff Migliozzi, communications director at Freedom for Immigrants in Washington, D.C., said its hotline has received nearly 70 calls from people inside the Miami Correctional Facility since Dec. 1.

“People detained here are raising urgent issues that are inherent to the immigration detention system, including severe medical neglect, poor food, and physical abuse by guards,” he said.

DOC said it’s equipped to handle such concerns and provided this response to the general allegations:

“Transition into any facility can be stressful for detainees, and we expect concerns will be raised as a natural part of that process,” Arnold said. “The department has established grievance and reporting processes to ensure those concerns can be communicated and reviewed in accordance with policy. We remain committed to maintaining safe, secure, and humane conditions for all individuals housed at the facility.”

Migliozzi wasn’t surprised by the long average stay, noting President Donald Trump’s administration “is shifting many of ICE’s policies in an effort to hold more people indefinitely.”

“It’s important to note that while conditions are worsening amid a record number of people in ICE custody, these systemic issues inside detention have long predated this administration,” he said. “Immigration detention undermines our shared values of justice, freedom, and human dignity, which is why we must end this cruel practice.”

Staffing issues continue

Landry, the pastor, said one thing the faith coalition always prays for — in addition to the detainees and family members caught in the immigration quagmire — is the overburdened staff at Miami.

One of the reasons the state had 1,000 open beds to offer up is that it couldn’t find enough prison guards and other staff members to operate the entire facility. The ICE contract boosts correctional officer pay from $24 to $28 an hour. DOC anticipated needing temporary staffing quarters on site, but it hasn’t been necessary yet. English said hiring has picked up — with 31 new officers currently approved and in the training process.

It takes about 150 staff members to run the detainee side every day.

The initial $16 million earmarked for upgrades, also went to more video equipment. The detainee side is averaging about 15 attorney appointments per day, and 30-plus court hearings.

English said most of the men have been in the country long enough to communicate in English but interpreters are available if needed.

“It has gone as well as we could expect,” he said.

JENNINGS COUNTY — A Jennings County judge has denied a motion to dismiss 12 criminal charges against a teenager accused of raping a special needs student on a school bus, officials said.

On Monday, Jennings Circuit Court Judge Murielle Bright denied a motion to dismiss charges against Landon Doty, 15, North Vernon, following a hearing, according to Jennings County Prosecutor Brian Belding.

Doty was arrested in June and pleaded not guilty to 12 charges, including four felony counts of rape, two felony counts of child molesting, four felony counts of sexual battery, one count of criminal confinement and one misdemeanor count of public indecency.

The hearing comes after Doty’s attorney, Bradley Kage, asked the judge to dismiss the charges, citing what he describes in the motion as a lack of evidence.

In a motion to dismiss filed in October, Kage states that the bus driver and monitor on board the bus where the incident allegedly took place testified in depositions last month that “they did not see any sexual acts between the defendant and the alleged victim and that they saw nothing alarming.”

Additionally, Kage states in the motion that the videotapes taken from cameras on board the bus “do not show the defendant committing any of the charged acts,” the motion states.

“The state assumes that they show crimes were committed,” according to the motion. “… (T)he defendant respectfully requests that the court dismiss the information and the counts against him and for all other relief proper in the premises.”

Bright’s written order denying the motion was not yet available on Monday afternoon. However, Belding said the judge found that the video footage “is an issue of fact and is for the jury to determine.”

Bright had scheduled the hearing “to view the videos the state intends to introduce at trial” and consider the motion to dismiss, according to court records. Doty was required to attend the hearing.

In September, the judge granted a request by Kage to postpone Doty’s trial, which was scheduled for Oct. 20. Belding said he expects Bright to set a trial date but has not yet received an order setting the new trial date.

The motion to dismiss stands in contrast with claims about the video footage made by Jennings County officials and law enforcement.

In June, Doty was booked into the Jennings County Jail after a magistrate judge ordered the teenager to be tried as an adult, citing “heinous” conduct and a “repetitive pattern of delinquent acts” that was allegedly captured on the Jennings County School Corp. school bus’s camera “over a period of several weeks,” according to court records.

A probable cause affidavit alleges that the Jennings County Middle School principal showed North Vernon police video from the school bus’s camera that was taken after school the day before as the students were on their way home.

In June, Jennings Circuit Magistrate Judge Christopher Doran ordered Doty to be tried as an adult, stating in a court order that “the alleged delinquent’s conduct was captured on video cameras on the bus. …The alleged delinquent’s criminal conduct appears to be calculated, indicating that he knew what he was doing was wrong. It appears in the videos that he would stop his criminal conduct anytime he thought someone may observe him, then continue his criminal conduct when he felt safe to continue without detection.”

While the motion to dismiss claims that Jennings County prosecutors’ case “rests primarily with the videotapes,” it is currently unclear precisely what other evidence investigators have gathered.

A witness and exhibit list filed by Jennings County prosecutors in August includes, among other people, two physicians, one nurse and one forensic scientist. It also includes laboratory reports and the alleged victim’s medical records.

The probable cause affidavit filed in Jennings Circuit Court alleges that North Vernon police were dispatched to Jennings County Middle School, located at 820 W. Walnut St. in North Vernon, on April 17 regarding “an unknown issue at the school’s transportation building.”

When the officers arrived, the school’s principal allegedly showed them video from the school bus’s camera that was taken after school the day before as the students were on their way home, the probable cause affidavit states.

The probable cause affidavit describes the alleged sexual assault and includes investigators describing incidents of oral sex and rape.

At one point, the bus monitor allegedly walked over to Doty and asked what was going on. The bus monitor then allegedly told the bus driver to pull over and “stated that the bus video needs to be reviewed.” The students were then separated.

Doty was allegedly taken from class and his guardian, his maternal grandmother, was called to come to the school. She allegedly said her brother would come because she was in Indianapolis.

When her brother arrived, the principal allegedly advised that “an incident took place and is being handled by the police department.”

Doty was placed into handcuffs and escorted inside a patrol car. Once the officer got into the car, Doty allegedly said, “I’m basically screwed,” according to information in the probable cause affidavit.

The judge’s order states that the victim suffers from moderate to severe autism and is non-verbal. The order also states that Doty is allegedly of “normal intelligence” and is not a special needs student, raising questions about why he was allowed to ride the special needs school bus.