Reducing Jail Beds And Crime At The Same Time

Reducing Jail Use and Crime at the Same Time

Programs funded by the Crime Prevention and Control Commission are cutting jail
time for offenders while improving public safety. A recent evaluation presented
to the Council Safety Committee showed that the Commission's programs are reducing
jail use by over 40,000 jail beds per year.

Some of the Commission's programs are simple, like funding a Pre-sentence Investigation
Report Writer to gather historical information on offenders prior to sentencing.
Simply hiring one person to write these reports is producing annual net savings
of $318,000 and 7,100 jail bed days. Another program that has saved even more
is the Pre-trial Supervision Program.

This program, which monitors offenders in the community while awaiting court, has saved $1,089,590 and 23,056 jail bed days per year. CPCC Programs have overall saved $1,037,111 and 42,086 jail bed days per year. Additional savings will be found when final drug court data collection
is completed.

Some of the more complex programs being funded by the Commission include Drug Court,
mental health services and reentry services. These programs involve intensive services,
so jail bed savings alone do not always offset costs. At the same time, these services
can often result long-term savings from reductions in recidivism, not to mention
savings in other social services sometimes needed by these offenders. Finally,
of course, are the benefits to the community and the hundreds of people who can
now lead productive lives instead of going in and out of jail for what is often
many years.

The Crime Prevention and Control Commission is continuing to measure the success
of its programs and will have more results to show during the next few months.
The Commission was created in 2005 with the approval of the new Justice Center and
is charged with both reducing crime and the need for additional jail space. For
a copy of the Powerpoint presentation to the Council Safety Committee, please visit
here [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001JFsZG9heghTP0EO0uWIsJ9bTatgHLI-d2D2b1zb2ovq7dXhhhZYRhqwTChOOitCSPKR_oeuiBkVEQBFUopM3adzL5a9XSi-Spnd72IMVqSH6mWqGYGBUvC6BcpQwEZ_qS7cWcL2wvf1JNTn_WnOUOXDAc-y2wrod7-HnLkkRJAaeifqjrmZBLTrjwA4SD5sdsujgdVUwF_E=].