Several law enforcement and judicial members presented information in a public meeting Monday night surrounding a potential expansion project at the Marshall County Jail.
There is a proposal to expand the jail to include additional space to house inmates to help alleviate the current overcrowding situation. A full 320-bed expansion could cost upwards of $19 million, if approved.
Prosecutor Nelson Chipman said there are efforts to divert people from being incarcerated in felony and misdemeanor pre-trial diversion programs. He said a new law that took effect this year, Criminal Rule 26, allows for a risk assessment to be done on inmates prior to setting a bond. If the offender is moderate to low risk, the offender could be released on a pre-trial basis. If the offender doesn’t meet that criteria, the bond will be set at a level appropriate for the charges filed.
Chipman noted that this practice has been in the works for a few years prior to the formal implementation of the law. He stressed that there aren’t too many offenders qualify for pre-trial release as many charges are serious and the offender needs to be incarcerated.
When it comes to the discussion of cash bonds versus surety bonds Chipman said the move to cash-only bonds started over 20 years ago.
“The family or defendant would accumulate enough money to pay a bondsman which was generally a ten-percent fee of the amount of the bond. They would pay that. They would be released. At the next court hearing, they’re sitting in front of the judge asking for a court appointed attorney because all their money was paid to a bondsman,” said Chipman.
However, the cash bond structure is also changing.
“I met with the judges and the bond schedules have been modified downward. They’ve also eliminated the automatic doubling and tripling of bonds for out-of-county and out-of-state residents.”
He also said a lot of inmates in the jail are awaiting the resolution of their case. He said about 98 percent of cases are resolved by plea agreement. The addition of a fourth court, if approved by the State, will help speed along cases if a fourth court is implemented in 2021, as proposed. Incentives are considered if cases are resolved in a reasonably short amount of time.
Chipman said the issue is complex in addressing the overcrowding issue and how all processes work through the judicial process.
Statistics show that the population is going down, whether it is through Criminal Rule 26, pre-trial diversion or resolution of cases. He believes there is still a need to expand the jail, but the question is when.
Community Corrections plays a big role in the equation. Director Ward Byers presented information on Monday on how Community Corrections figures into the equation and that information will be presented in tomorrow’s news.
More of the discussion can be heard during Sunday’s Maximum Impact program at noon on MAX 98.3 FM.
