Justice doesn’t always mean jail, judge says

County aiming for a 17 percent reduction

Palm Beach County wants to reduce its jail population by 17 percent, eliminate racial disparities and save taxpayers money. “We want to get smarter on crime,” Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath said.

Palm Beach County wants to reduce its jail population by 17 percent over the next two years, eliminate racial disparities and save taxpayers money.

“We cannot incarcerate our way out of our criminal justice problem,” Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Colbath said. “We want to get smarter on crime — not harder on crime necessarily.”

The MacArthur Foundation awarded $2 million Wednesday to Palm Beach County’s Criminal Justice Commission to support those efforts. Nationwide, the charitable foundation is devoting $100 million to prevent unnecessary incarceration.

The foundation solicited proposals from counties across the country and awarded grants on a competitive basis.

Palm Beach County’s plan includes several strategies to reduce the jail population:

A new specialized court will help offenders regain their driver’s licenses. A suspended license can lead to job loss and economic hardship.

Warrants for low-level offenses that have been outstanding for as long as 10 years will be vacated for people who have an otherwise clean record.

A scorecard will help judges better assess the chances someone will commit a crime when released on bail.

Homeless people charged with low-level offenses will be directed to housing and social services.

A renewed effort will focus on reminding offenders of their court dates. In 2016, about 14 percent of jail admissions involved a failure to appear in court, and all but two of those admissions involved nonviolent felonies or lowlevel charges.

The MacArthur Foundation’s efforts aim to lower the incarceration rate in the United States, the highest in the world. Nearly 2.2 million Americans are in jails and prisons, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

On an average day, 2,210 people are in Palm Beach County jails, according to the county’s research. Officials want to reduce that to 1,835 by the end of 2019. More than 9,000 people are in jail daily in South Florida, according to a July report from the Florida Department of Corrections.

Taxpayers are footing the bill. For every county tax dollar, 14 cents go to support the county’s jail system.

Blacks are disproportionately jailed, and they also spend more time in jail on average than whites, according to a Palm Beach County study. Blacks make up about half of the jail population but only 19 percent of the county’s population.

While career criminals and violent offenders need to be locked up, people charged with low-level offenses often don’t need to be in jail, State Attorney Dave Aronberg said.

“If it’s based on a mental illness, it’s better they get help and housing and not continue this revolving door of justice where they go in and out of our jails every day,” he said.

Charges related to homelessness, such as trespassing and public intoxication, can produce significant costs for taxpayers. Just 108 people registered as being homeless racked up $762,480 in jail costs in a roughly one-year span, according to the county’s research.

Public Defender Carey Haughwout said the county has already made some gains in addressing racial disparities in the criminal justice system and unnecessary incarceration.

Palm Beach County’s incarceration rate is below the state average, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

But much more needs to be done, Haughwout said.

“Basic human needs have to be met in order to keep people healthy and out of the criminal justice system,” she said. “Basic human needs like housing, mental health, physical health.”