Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council

Programs Update

One of the goals of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) is to analyze programs that could reduce the jail population and make recommendations for improvement in the criminal justice system.  Over the past year, the CJCC has supported the implementation of three such jail population reduction programs.  They are Pretrial Release, Behavioral Health Court and House Arrest.

Pretrial Release Program

In November of 2016 we started piloting pretrial release using the former Bond Supervision program guidelines.  The pilot program continued through May of 2017 at which time we began implementing a new best practices Pretrial Release program with assistance from Dr. Beck with Justice Concepts Incorporated.

On 09-11-17 an additional employee was hired and now the program has three fulltime staff.  With this new employee on board we anticipate defendant pretrial release interviews to occur at the jail prior to first appearance and pretrial release numbers to increase over the next several months, thus slightly reducing the jail population.

Electronic monitoring equipment, at no cost to defendants, is being used in the program.  We are in the process of negotiating a contract with a different vendor which will reduce the cost per unit.

Pretrial Release Statistics

Served to date	Currently in the program	Defendant failures*	Jail beds days saved**	Electronic monitoring equipment***
Male 98	Male 28	Male 31	Male 6405	Average daily
Female 30	Female 17	Female 6	Female 2952	12 defendants
Total 128	Total 45	Total 37	Total 9,357	Total $23,521

*Common failures include positive drug test, new charge and failure to appear

**Jail beds saving example:  9,357 (days saved) x $80.79 (per day) = $755,952 (Total jail bed days saved is the equivalent of the total number of days defendants were monitored on the pretrial release program)

   ***No cost to defendant.  Total reflects charges from March through August 2017.  We were on a no cost equipment trial from November 2016 through February 2017.

Behavioral Heath Court

The Behavioral Health Court (BHC) is an avenue for individuals who are charged with minor crimes, and appear to have a behavioral health issue, to avoid serving time in jail.  All defendant referrals to the program are sent to the District Attorney’s office for initial screening and, if approved, the defendant is referred to the BHC Team for consideration and entry to the program. The BHC became operational in January of 2017.

Behavioral Health Court Statistics

Served to date	Referred to the District Attorney*	Successful completion (Graduation)**
Male 10	Male 37	Male 1
Female 5	Female 18	Female 0
Total 15	Total 55	Total 1

*There are currently 4 defendants (1 male and 3 female) pending approval based on assessment process details

**The next graduation is for a female defendant and is scheduled for October 2017

House Arrest Program

The House Arrest Program was approved by the County Commission in May of 2017 and the program is currently being developed.  A workgroup has been formed with stakeholders to develop policies, procedures and protocols for the program.  The team has been meeting and working toward an implementation date of mid-October 2017.  

Once operational there is the capacity to manage 25 to 40 offenders depending on the level of supervision required. 

Moving forward

Over the past year, hard work and collaboration among stakeholders has been vital to the successful creation and implementation of these programs.  This same effort will need to continue as we move forward with fine-tuning best practices with higher caseloads.

Dr. Beck’s Jail Forecast Report accounted for 50 defendants out on pretrial monitoring at any given time.  Over the past few months, our pretrial release numbers have grown and remain around 48-52. Considering the current jail average daily population is 229, the jail population would be approximately 280 without this program

After a review of the pretrial inmate population statistics, we anticipate the pretrial caseload to increase by approximately 15 to 20 defendants in the 4^th quarter of 2017.

In addition, after reviewing the sentenced inmate population statistics, we anticipate an initial House Arrest caseload of 20 to 25 offenders in the 4^th quarter or 2017.

Behavioral Health court has averaged serving approximately 4 new defendants each quarter in 2017.  It is likely that there will be 4-6 additional defendants in the program by the close of 2017.

These three programs combined have the potential to reduce the jail population an additional 35 to 50 inmates if ordered so by the District and Municipal courts still leaving the jail at full capacity. Although the programs can accommodate larger caseloads with increased staff, it is unlikely that there will be an additional increase in inmates who can meet the eligibility requirements based on their criminal history, current charges and risk to public safety.