Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia has taken it upon himself to try to resolve the county's long-term problem of jail overcrowding. It's too bad that it won't solve a thing.
There are 22 district (felony) criminal courts and 15 county courts-at-law (misdemeanor) in the Harris County Criminal (In)justice Center. There is a "holdover" cell in each courtroom that is supposed to hold no more than 19 inmates. As they would say across the pond, that guideline is honored more in the breach than in the observance.
There is a giant holding cell in the tunnel between the county jail and the courthouse that can hold roughly 250 inmates. Now do the math. Thirty-seven courts with 19 inmates is a bit more than 250. The overflow inmates are lined up in the tunnel where they wait.
What is one to do?
Sheriff Garcia decided to stagger the times he has inmates delivered to courtrooms.This means that an attorney may walk into a courtroom and have no idea when his client might be brought over.
The problem with Sheriff Garcia's plan to alleviate overcrowding is that it doesn't. His plan only treats the symptoms, not the disease.
The way to reduce jail overcrowding in Harris County is to find a way to get those people in jail awaiting trial out of jail. Every person brought into the county jail is innocent unless proven guilty. To force someone to stay behind bars due to the arbitrariness of the county's bail schedule is a crime.
The first blog post I wrote dealt with the need to increase the number of personal bonds issued. Every person without a prior criminal record arrested for a non-violent offense should be released with a personal bond. The only reason to keep them behind bars is to coerce a plea out of them. Just wave that offer of time served in front of their face and they will gladly plead guilty to something they didn't do just to get out of that hellhole.
The other way to reduce the jail population in Harris County is to issue citations and summonses for non-violent misdemeanor drug possession cases. Confiscate the goods, issue the person a ticket along with a summons ordering them to appear in court on a certain day at a certain time under threat of arrest.
We need to do away with this notion that anyone charged with domestic assault must be held without bail until such time as he can see a magistrate so a temporary protective order can be issued. If we can find judges who are more than willing to hang around the courthouse (or by a fax machine) at all hours of the night to sign fill-in-the-blank warrants authorizing forcible blood draws, certainly we can find a judge or two who can sign an emergency protective order on short notice. It's not like they're going to read it or set a hearing to determine whether it's necessary or not.
Sheriff Garcia's plan addresses none of these issues.
Showing posts with label personal bonds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personal bonds. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Galveston looks to eliminate pretrial services
Galveston County is in a mood to cut their operating budget and one of the biggest targets is the Pretrial Release Agency. The PRA serves two primary functions: they monitor defendants who have interlock devices installed on their cars and they acts as a low cost bonding agency for jailed defendants who qualify for their services.
Members of Commissioner's Court view the agency solely in terms of the latter - a subsidized competitor to the private bonding companies doing business in Galveston. Due to the severe poverty in the county (which county officials would rather ignore), there are plenty of people being held in the Galveston County Jail because they cannot afford to post a bond.
These folks turn up on the daily afternoon misdemeanor jail docket. The county has already reduced the number of jail docket attorneys from three to two in an effort to save $57,000 a year in attorney fees. If the PRA is eliminated, the number of inmates appearing on the jail docket will increase which will create a need to put a third attorney back on the docket - or putting added pressure on the jail docket attorneys to plead their clients out.
All of us who work within the criminal (in)justice system know that it's a whole lot easier to fight a case when your client is able to work and sleep in his or her own bed. As long as a defendant is locked up, the pressure to plead out increases. When you're sleeping behind bars, the siren song of "time served and a fine" sounds a whole lot nicer than litigating a suppression motion.
According to Ms. Bonita Quiroga, the director of the Office of Justice Administration, eliminating the agency will result in all of two people being laid off -- hardly a savings bonanza. Elimination of the agency would also put the Galveston County Sheriff's Office in charge of issuing personal bonds for defendants who qualify for them.
Of course the private bonding companies want to see PRA go away. They look at the number of folks who walk out of the county jail through pretrial release and see dollar signs. The problem is, if these folks could have afforded to post a bond, they would have.
Quiroga.ltr.Pretrial.release
Members of Commissioner's Court view the agency solely in terms of the latter - a subsidized competitor to the private bonding companies doing business in Galveston. Due to the severe poverty in the county (which county officials would rather ignore), there are plenty of people being held in the Galveston County Jail because they cannot afford to post a bond.
These folks turn up on the daily afternoon misdemeanor jail docket. The county has already reduced the number of jail docket attorneys from three to two in an effort to save $57,000 a year in attorney fees. If the PRA is eliminated, the number of inmates appearing on the jail docket will increase which will create a need to put a third attorney back on the docket - or putting added pressure on the jail docket attorneys to plead their clients out.
All of us who work within the criminal (in)justice system know that it's a whole lot easier to fight a case when your client is able to work and sleep in his or her own bed. As long as a defendant is locked up, the pressure to plead out increases. When you're sleeping behind bars, the siren song of "time served and a fine" sounds a whole lot nicer than litigating a suppression motion.
According to Ms. Bonita Quiroga, the director of the Office of Justice Administration, eliminating the agency will result in all of two people being laid off -- hardly a savings bonanza. Elimination of the agency would also put the Galveston County Sheriff's Office in charge of issuing personal bonds for defendants who qualify for them.
Of course the private bonding companies want to see PRA go away. They look at the number of folks who walk out of the county jail through pretrial release and see dollar signs. The problem is, if these folks could have afforded to post a bond, they would have.
Quiroga.ltr.Pretrial.release
Monday, May 23, 2011
Stuffed to the gills
Forget about all that 6th Amendment nonsense about the right to counsel, Harris County has decided that's not nearly so important as cramming as many pre-trial detainees into the Harris County Jail in order to coerce guilty pleas.
Keep in mind that we aren't talking about people who have been found guilty of anything. These are the folks that are supposedly innocent unless proven guilty. These are the folks who are unable to post bond. These are the folks that most people don't give a rat's ass about.
But they're being transported all over the state because Harris County refuses to do anything to address the underlying problem of jail overcrowding -- punitive bonds.
And then there's HB 1173 that would allow counties with populations over 3 million people to extend the time they can hold a suspect without a probable cause hearing from 24 to 36 hours. That's just what we need here in Houston -- there's not enough room at the inn as it is and now we're going to allow the state to hold a citizen in jail an additional 12 hours.
Of course, if it's a bad bill related to criminal justice you know it must be sponsored by Sen. Joan Huffman. Interestingly enough, the fiscal analysis indicates that there should be no additional cost to the state (understood) or to local government (?). Just how many pretrial detainees are being transferred out of the county to make room for the new blood over on Baker Street?
Here's an idea for our legislators in Austin -- how about mandating the issuance of citations for Class B possession of marijuana cases? Confiscate the contraband, issue a citation with a promise to appear and go on about your business. It's going to be cheaper than shipping detainees out of the county and it might just allow Harris County to take care of its business when it comes to holding probable cause hearings within 24 hours.
From: Armand, Stephanie (DCA)
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2011 2:50 PM
To: DC Criminal Coordinators (DCA)
Cc: DeLeon, Sisto (HCSO)
Subject: Contractual Logistics Transfers
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2011 2:50 PMTo: DC Criminal Coordinators (DCA)Cc: DeLeon, Sisto (HCSO)Subject: Contractual Logistics Transfers
Good afternoon, Due to jail overcrowding, pre-trial inmates with a future date of 35 days or over are transferred to outlying jail facilities in Newton and LaSalle County. The inmates will be returned to Harris County Jail, two weeks prior to the setting in the court. Video Conferences are available at both of these facilities to allow the defense attorney to visit with his/her client. Defense attorneys may contact one of the following individuals to arrange the video conference: Lt. J.D. Clay @ 713-755-8434 or 713-755-8425 Sgts. C.D. Minshew or F. Dlouhy at 713-755-8420 Or Deputy Station at 713-755-1188 or 713-755-1189 Please convey this contact information to the defense attorneys. This information is also available on the Coordinator’s Resource Webpage under Contractual Logistics Transfer Procedures. Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.
Stephanie Armand Business Process Manager Administrative Offices of the District Courts 713-755-5704
Keep in mind that we aren't talking about people who have been found guilty of anything. These are the folks that are supposedly innocent unless proven guilty. These are the folks who are unable to post bond. These are the folks that most people don't give a rat's ass about.
But they're being transported all over the state because Harris County refuses to do anything to address the underlying problem of jail overcrowding -- punitive bonds.
And then there's HB 1173 that would allow counties with populations over 3 million people to extend the time they can hold a suspect without a probable cause hearing from 24 to 36 hours. That's just what we need here in Houston -- there's not enough room at the inn as it is and now we're going to allow the state to hold a citizen in jail an additional 12 hours.
Of course, if it's a bad bill related to criminal justice you know it must be sponsored by Sen. Joan Huffman. Interestingly enough, the fiscal analysis indicates that there should be no additional cost to the state (understood) or to local government (?). Just how many pretrial detainees are being transferred out of the county to make room for the new blood over on Baker Street?
Here's an idea for our legislators in Austin -- how about mandating the issuance of citations for Class B possession of marijuana cases? Confiscate the contraband, issue a citation with a promise to appear and go on about your business. It's going to be cheaper than shipping detainees out of the county and it might just allow Harris County to take care of its business when it comes to holding probable cause hearings within 24 hours.
Monday, May 2, 2011
One lump or two?
Oh, the hypocrisy of those limited government folks never ceases to amaze. As Grits for Breakfast reports, Teabaggers in Smith County (that would be northeast Texas, for those of y'all not in the know), have come out in favor of (yet another) referendum to build a new jail.
Nevermind the fact that voters in Smith County (hardly a liberal stronghold) have said "thanks, but no thanks" on four previous occasions. Nevermind the debt the construction project would impose on county coffers. Nevermind the fact that it costs Smith County less to house a few inmates in other counties than it would to pay for a new jail. Nevermind that the majority of folks being housed in jails across this state are being held for nonviolent crimes.
In other words, nevermind the fact that the Teabaggers proclaim themselves to be champions of limited government. The same folks that tell the world we need less government, not more, have no compunction about lobbying for restrictions to be placed on the constitutional rights of those accused of criminal activity. The same folks that tell the world we need less government, not more, have no compunction about creating new crimes or harsher penalties because of one bad incident that occurred. The same folks that tell the world we need less government, not more, have no compunction about allowing the police to intrude more and more into the lives of ordinary citizens -- whether it be through "back-dooring" our e-mail or cell phone communications or fondling people boarding planes.
You want to reduce the cost of incarcerating our fellow citizens? How about personal bonds for folks charged with minor nonviolent offenses who have no prior criminal record? How about allowing police officers to issue tickets for possession of trace amounts of marijuana instead of hauling someone off to jail? How about more pretrial diversion programs for folks without criminal records? How about reducing bonds so that defendants don't have to sit around in jail until their cases are disposed of?
The problem with those ideas, though, is that they're logical.
In other words, nevermind the fact that the Teabaggers proclaim themselves to be champions of limited government. The same folks that tell the world we need less government, not more, have no compunction about lobbying for restrictions to be placed on the constitutional rights of those accused of criminal activity. The same folks that tell the world we need less government, not more, have no compunction about creating new crimes or harsher penalties because of one bad incident that occurred. The same folks that tell the world we need less government, not more, have no compunction about allowing the police to intrude more and more into the lives of ordinary citizens -- whether it be through "back-dooring" our e-mail or cell phone communications or fondling people boarding planes.
You want to reduce the cost of incarcerating our fellow citizens? How about personal bonds for folks charged with minor nonviolent offenses who have no prior criminal record? How about allowing police officers to issue tickets for possession of trace amounts of marijuana instead of hauling someone off to jail? How about more pretrial diversion programs for folks without criminal records? How about reducing bonds so that defendants don't have to sit around in jail until their cases are disposed of?
The problem with those ideas, though, is that they're logical.
Friday, April 29, 2011
On measuring cups, crack and jail overcrowding
The boys over at Freakonomics have posited an interesting question -- did the sale of Pyrex hurt the crack cocaine industry?
It sounds quite far-fetched, I'm certain, but it makes some sense if you look into the issue a bit more deeply. The theory goes something like this...
Pyrex is (or at least, was) a great material for handling extreme changes in temperature. You could fill a bowl with a cold substance, throw it in the microwave and boil it, all without the glass shattering. At least you could before Corning sold Pyrex in 1998. The new owners, World Kitchen, changed the manufacturing process around and now Pyrex isn't quite so good at handling extreme temperature changes.
Crack cocaine is made by melting powder cocaine in water at high temperatures then letting it cool. It wasn't a problem for the old Pyrex measuring cups -- but the new ones, not so good. Crack manufacturers had to find new vessels to cook up their brew - namely, test tubes stolen from labs.
Now we all know it's far easier to buy a Pyrex measuring cup than it is to steal test tubes. Hence, the cost of producing crack has gone up and the supply has gone down.
If you're a fan of Mythbusters you'll get a kick out of this video in which the boys at Popular Science show the different ways you can cause a Pyrex cup to explode.
The lesson is that you can never be certain of the consequences of any particular decision until somewhere down the road.
This principle plays out on a daily basis in the criminal courthouse. By not granting personal bonds for people charged with nonviolent Class B misdemeanors, the courts "force" defendants to plead guilty in order to get out of jail. These folks now have criminal records that can make it harder for them to find housing or jobs. As a result of overcrowding in the county jail we've had to spend money to build new jails and even more money to pay other counties to hold Harris County inmates awaiting trial.
Harris County could institute a "catch and release" program for minor possession cases. Instead of arresting the person and hauling them off to jail, the police could issue a citation with a promise to appear in court. Such a policy would reduce the number of people held in the county jail and would take away the pressure to plead guilty in order to get out of jail. That conviction for a possession of marijuana could prevent a student from receiving financial aid in college - putting a degree beyond their reach.
Our state legislators rarely (if ever) consider the long-term consequences of anything they do -- they are focused on the next election, to the detriment of everything else. There are days I thank my lucky stars that they are only in session for 140 every other year.
It sounds quite far-fetched, I'm certain, but it makes some sense if you look into the issue a bit more deeply. The theory goes something like this...
Pyrex is (or at least, was) a great material for handling extreme changes in temperature. You could fill a bowl with a cold substance, throw it in the microwave and boil it, all without the glass shattering. At least you could before Corning sold Pyrex in 1998. The new owners, World Kitchen, changed the manufacturing process around and now Pyrex isn't quite so good at handling extreme temperature changes.
Crack cocaine is made by melting powder cocaine in water at high temperatures then letting it cool. It wasn't a problem for the old Pyrex measuring cups -- but the new ones, not so good. Crack manufacturers had to find new vessels to cook up their brew - namely, test tubes stolen from labs.
Now we all know it's far easier to buy a Pyrex measuring cup than it is to steal test tubes. Hence, the cost of producing crack has gone up and the supply has gone down.
Pyrex is valued by cooks for its sturdiness in the kitchen, particularly its ability to withstand rapid, dramatic temperature changes that typically shatter normal glassware. It turns out that people making crack cocaine valued this quality too. The process of cooking powder cocaine into hardened crack is intense, and involves a container of water undergoing a rapid temperature change. For years, Pyrex measuring cups, manufactured by Corning, were a key component of the underground crack industry.
But Corning sold Pyrex in 1998 to World Kitchen, which altered the makeup of the Pyrex material, making it less resistant to temperature changes and more prone to shattering.
If you're a fan of Mythbusters you'll get a kick out of this video in which the boys at Popular Science show the different ways you can cause a Pyrex cup to explode.
The lesson is that you can never be certain of the consequences of any particular decision until somewhere down the road.
This principle plays out on a daily basis in the criminal courthouse. By not granting personal bonds for people charged with nonviolent Class B misdemeanors, the courts "force" defendants to plead guilty in order to get out of jail. These folks now have criminal records that can make it harder for them to find housing or jobs. As a result of overcrowding in the county jail we've had to spend money to build new jails and even more money to pay other counties to hold Harris County inmates awaiting trial.
Harris County could institute a "catch and release" program for minor possession cases. Instead of arresting the person and hauling them off to jail, the police could issue a citation with a promise to appear in court. Such a policy would reduce the number of people held in the county jail and would take away the pressure to plead guilty in order to get out of jail. That conviction for a possession of marijuana could prevent a student from receiving financial aid in college - putting a degree beyond their reach.
Our state legislators rarely (if ever) consider the long-term consequences of anything they do -- they are focused on the next election, to the detriment of everything else. There are days I thank my lucky stars that they are only in session for 140 every other year.
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