New program at Bannock County Jail aims to reduce inmate population and the cost of housing them
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POCATELLO — As the number of inmates at the Bannock County Jail increases, the cost of housing them gets expensive. That’s why officials are looking at a new system that aims to solve this problem.
Bannock County Jail currently has 257 inmates. Based on the national average, two-thirds, or around 171 of those inmates are in a holding pattern awaiting arraignment. The average cost of housing an inmate is about $85 per day, which means roughly $14,563 is being spent daily to house people waiting to have things like disturbing the peace and malicious injury to property heard in court. Those are actual examples taken directly from the jail’s roster.
Bannock County Department of Adult Probation and Pretrial officers are responsible for monitoring the people released from jail as they await trial. Those officers are also responsible for assessing each inmate awaiting arraignment for the risk they represent, should they be released.
Evie McCurry, the director of that department, spoke with EastIdahoNews.com about a new program her officers began using last Tuesday to make that determination. It’s called the Public Safety Assessment.
“It is an objective assessment that will predict, based off criminal history and past failures to appear, the likelihood of success on pretrial release,” McCurry says. “Research shows that low-risk, nonviolent defendants who can’t afford to post bond often stay in jail for extended periods of time, while high-risk offenders are released. During the pretrial phase of a case, we want to see community protection, court appearances, and the defendant’s rights intact.”
The new system adds no additional cost burden to the county, McCurry explained. Tools used to to make assessments are already available to probation and parole officers.
“The only thing that we hope to see is the cost that we save out at the jail,” she added. “What we’re looking for is to safely lower the jail population.”
The recently scrapped assessment process, which had been in use in the state of Idaho since 1993, took many criteria into account. Some of those criteria — like community ties, work history and current living situation — do not hold any bearing in a person’s likelihood of a failed release, according to McCurry.
With the new PSA system, each defendant is graded on a scale that includes criminal history and failure-to-appear rates. Demographic information — like race, ethnicity, gender and economic status — have been removed from the process completely, McCurry explained.
The end goal is focused on two things — keeping the defendants who pose a safety risk to the community behind bars and letting out those who do not.
This assessment program was approved unanimously by 6th District magistrate judges, according to a news release from the county.
“Personally, I’m very excited about the implementation of the PSA,” Judge Aaron Thompson says in the release. “It will give every judge a science-based tool to use in this critical decision-making process. Not only does it give judges more information to make better bail and release decisions, but it also will allow for our district pretrial services staff to be more efficiently used. Although judges maintain discretion to deviate from the PSA recommendations, this added information will provide better insight, effective release conditions, and improved resource allocation. I see this resource as another tool in our never-ending quest to introspect and self-improve.”
The previous assessment system, according to McCurry, yielded a 40% success rate. Three of every five defendants released either re-offended or failed to appear in court. The PSA system, which is currently used in five states, has produced an 80% success rate.
Over the next 18 months, McCurry will compile the data collected through the use of the PSA system in Bannock County. She then plans to share that data with neighboring counties in hopes that the state advances its bail and release structure.
“I’m excited that Evie and her team are helping Bannock County take a leadership role in the State with the PSA program,” Bannock County Commissioner Jeff Hough says in the release. “This program has the potential to have a positive generational effect on the lives of individuals and their families.”