Our History starts on April 4, 1836. Isaac Kirkendall was elected this day to be the first Kosciusko County Sheriff. Born in Virginia on January 15, 1787, he served as Sheriff from 1836 to 1839. The first sheriff's office and jail was a log cabin believed to have stood where the current Old Kosciusko County Court House sits today.
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 is now a museum and serves as home to the Kosciusko County Historical Society.
In 1979, officials approved plans for a new county court/sheriff's office/jail complex. Ground breaking for this structure began on May 2, 1980 with completion around May 3, 1982. After the construction, things changed quickly for the Sheriff's Office. One most noticeable advances was the level of 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 change was the enormous space and bed availability. After almost decade, the jail outgrew its intended capacity. It was not uncommon to have 130 inmates housed at the jail on any given day, some prisoners sleeping on the floor of the in-door gymnasium.
2001 brought yet another expansion to the sheriff's office and jail. Overcrowding became a large legal issue, in addition to the current state of conditions for the 1982 facility. In 2003, a 294 bed jail and new sheriff's office were built from the existing structure. State-of-the-art electronics help observe the inmates and perimeter of the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Office as well as the Kosciusko County Justice Building. Large and spacious cell blocks were installed in the renovation similar to those in the Indiana prison systems. Along with the newly designed cells, improvements to security and functionality were completed as the complex encompasses an entire city block.