Panel gets outline of programs for jail

Money for pretrial services uncertain

FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County officials “have a blueprint” for programs aimed at reducing crowding in the jail and making the courts more efficient, Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durrett said Friday.

The pretrial service subcommittee of the county’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee heard a presentation on a model for a pretrial services program when the panel met Friday morning. Whitney Payne, a law clerk for Circuit Judge Cristi Beaumont, gathered the information and made the presentation to the group.

“It’s impressive,” Durrett said after the meeting. “A lot of us have had ideas and thoughts of what we wanted. Now we have something that’s putting it all together.”

Durrett said the next step, for which he has no timeline, is finding money for the the program.

The group asked Payne to explore possible federal grants or other sources of money, and she said she expects to have more information at the meeting of the full Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee on Thursday.

Payne said in her report a program with five employees assigned to assess the prospects for successful release when people are brought to the jail and to work as case managers for those who are released could cost the county as much as $300,000 a year.

Payne gave the subcommittee a detailed, written briefing with information on programs now working in other locations, including St. Mary’s County in Maryland. Payne said the population of St. Mary’s County is smaller than Washington County’s.

St. Mary’s County began its pretrial services program as an alternative to a jail expansion project, Payne said. The jail was about 50% above capacity, and within the first year 200 people were released into pretrial services. Of those, she said, 77% remained compliant with the terms of their release with no new violations.

St. Mary’s County reduced its jail population by 200, or 33%, with the pretrial services accounting for about 61% of that reduction, according to the information gathered by Payne. The startup cost was about $200,000, she said, and the reduction in jail population and the number of people failing to appear for court saved St. Mary’s County about $594,000 in the first year.