Washington County officials discuss criminal justice study

NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK One of four blocks in the Work Release Building at the Washington County Sheriff's Office. The building is for minimum classification detainees. Justice of the Peace Ann Harbison said the Quorum Court should consider asking voters March 1 to decide on a temporary solution for the crowding situation at the jail.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK One of four blocks in the Work Release Building at the Washington County Sheriff's Office. The building is for minimum classification detainees. Justice of the Peace Ann Harbison said the Quorum Court should consider asking voters March 1 to decide on a temporary solution for the crowding situation at the jail.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County officials were urged Tuesday to adopt a "data-driven" model to operating the county criminal justice system.

The Quorum Court's Jails/Law Enforcement/Courts Committee spent nearly two hours listening to and discussing a summary of a report on the criminal justice system done by the National Center for State Courts. The Quorum Court commissioned the $60,000 study last year after the justices of the peace decided they wanted to look for alternatives to a proposed $38 million expansion of the jail.

The justices of the peace took no action at Tuesday's meeting.

The report didn't shy away from a possible expansion of the jail, with one of the study's finding suggesting Washington County pursue a regional jail facility at the site of the current jail.

Sheriff Tim Helder had proposed a jail expansion project in 2018, with the 710-bed facility regularly at or over its operating capacity around 80-85% of the number of bed spaces and sometimes exceeding the design capacity with detainees sleeping on mattresses on the floor.

Karen Albert with the National Center for State Courts, called the jail population problem "the elephant in the room" and said something has to be done to manage the jail population.

"Northwest Arkansas has experienced tremendous growth in business and population," Albert said. "If we stick with a 'do-nothing' approach we are going to run out of space at the jail."

The jail population has been reduced by nearly half since mid-March when national and state health emergencies were declared in response to the covid-19 pandemic. The report noted the steps taken to reduce the number of detainees, including lower bond amounts and releasing detainees on citations or under some kind of electronic monitoring program, and suggested many of them could continue.

The study said local officials must do more to share information and be willing to consider alternatives to traditional operating methods.

Much of the report focused on possible alternatives to incarceration, with a focus on pre-trial services that could help detainees avoid spending time awaiting trial in the jail. The report suggested those involved in the criminal justice system form a Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee, not under the authority of any elected official, to oversee the processes and recommend changes. The report said a guide to the services available should be developed and maintained, a mental health court should be established, more use should be made of video visitation and hearing technology, and the county should work to make transportation and housing available to those who need assistance.

Other recommendations were more specific. The report said the team from the NCSC observed interactions between prosecutors and "judicial officers" outside the courtroom and suggested all such meetings and discussions should take place in normal court hearings. The report also said public defenders should be placed on a status equal to prosecutors with the same levels of education and experience.

One particular problem addressed in the report is the detention of people for failure to appear in court. Patrick Deakins, justice of the peace for District 5 in Springdale, said the number of people jailed for failure to appear "a huge issue here in Washington County" and said greater use of the sort of pre-trial services mentioned in the report, which included mental health services, drug treatment, monitoring and providing reminders of court dates, should be considered.

Stan Adelman, who served as the county's jail ombudsman for the past year, agreed the number of detainees in the jail for failure to appear can be addressed through"more robust" pre-trial services. Managing to keep those people out of jail will be a "double payoff" Adelman said, improving their lives and benefiting the county by placing less strain on the jail and the judicial system.

"Bonds for FTAs approach or exceed bonds for the most violent felonies," Adelman said. "This is so self-defeating in so many ways."

Adelman said the county should consider including in the jail budget some provision for case workers at the jail who could manage pre-trial services for the detainees.

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Criminal justice assessment

Washington County’s Quorum Court has received a study examining the county’s criminal justice system done by the National Center for State Courts. The study can be found on the county’s website at www.washingtoncount… .

Source: Washington County

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