Indiana Capital Chronicle investigation revealed Inspector General Jared Prentice halted publication of state misconduct reports

On July 28, 2026, Indiana Capital Chronicle reported that the Indiana Office of Inspector General, under Inspector General Jared Prentice, has stopped publicly releasing summaries of its investigations into fraud, waste, and misconduct in state government. The office released nine such investigative reports in 2025, covering matters including improper gifts, falsified case-management entries, and falsified time sheets, but has released none in 2026. The office's own online report archive independently corroborates the shift: its 2026 investigative-reports page lists no completed reports, while its 2025 page lists nine. [1, 2, 3]

State law classifies OIG investigative reports as confidential by default, leaving it to the inspector general or governor's discretion to waive that confidentiality when release serves the public interest; past inspectors general did so consistently, including after investigations that did not result in charges. Prentice's office says it is instead withholding those findings following an internal review that identified legal risk, including the possibility that a report could name unproven allegations against someone never later charged, denying that person a chance to respond through formal channels. [1]

"This ensures case information is strictly presented publicly before the State Ethics Commission or by a prosecutor to the court so the accused has the opportunity to respond via the appropriate mechanisms of due process," an OIG spokesperson said. The office still announces criminal charges and ethics violations when they occur, and continues publishing quarterly and annual summary reports on its overall caseload, but those aggregate reports omit the case-specific findings the discontinued investigative reports once contained, such as a 2023 report finding the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration had lost dozens of laptops during the state's COVID-19 vaccination hotline rollout. [1]