Posted 9:04 pm Monday, November 12, 2007
November 12: Change Possible
Now that voters in Smith County have rejected new jail construction, it's time for the commissioners courts, judges, the DA, and local law enforcement to get a lot more serious about their responsibility to reduce the jail population. They should start by implementing HB 2391, the only legislation passed in 2007 by the 80th Texas Legislature aimed at reducing jail overcrowding.
Both the sheriff and the Tyler PD have refused to allow their officers to use new discretion created this year by the Legislature to issue a summons instead of making an arrest for certain low-level, non-violent offenses. Under HB 2391, signed into law by the governor earlier this year, officers can choose to give tickets instead arresting people suspected of:
Marijuana possession (up to 4 oz)
Criminal mischief with less than $500 damage
Graffiti with less than $500 damage
Theft by check with less than $500 stolen
Theft of service with less than $500 stolen
Driving With an Invalid License
The idea was to reduce overcrowding at local jails and keep more officers out on the street instead of spending hours booking suspects for low-level crimes. But several DAs and local law enforcement officials have thwarted the law's implementation in much of the state.
In San Antonio, Bexar DA Susan Reed is also blocking the law's implementation, even though it would save the county more than $10,000 per day. In Harris County (Houston), DA Chuck Rosenthal announced he would use his prosecutorial discretion to refuse cases where officers exercised this new authority, undermining any possible use in that jurisdiction. Since Harris County voters also rejected a new jail on Tuesday, Rosenthal should now back off that position, and both county sheriffs and local police departments in Harris and Smith counties should reconsider their refusal to exercise this new authority. Ignoring the only tool given you to reduce overcrowding while simultaneously paying other counties to house local offenders doesn't make economic or political sense.
Smith and Harris counties both need their judges to do more to reduce pretrial detention, particularly for non-violent misdemeanants and state jail felons. The purpose of pretrial detention is not to assist prosecutors in extracting a guilty plea. Both counties' jurists need to rely more heavily on recommendations from their pretrial services divisions, which exist to recommend offenders who are good candidates for release on low bail or personal bond, but whose recommendations in practice in both counties are routinely ignored.
Tyler District Judge Cynthia Kent came up with a slew of proposals after the first jail bond defeat to reduce overincarceration through alternatives and strengthened probation, but the county commissioners court at first only funded one of the litany of ideas suggested in her plan. The new day reporting center has been a huge success, and the recently funded drug court and new expedited case docket will help. But much more needs to be done. Smith County commissioners should go back to Judge Kent, hat in hand, and ask her to provide leadership to face the county's overincarceration problem head on. She's on the right track, if her cohorts will follow her lead instead of resisting.
After Tuesday's election, neither Harris nor Smith County has a choice. For the time being jail building is off the table, so all there is to do is seek community-based solutions and strengthen pretrial and probation supervision. And they'd better get started soon. In fact, both counties should have started such initiatives a long time ago. Then voters might have more confidence that they'd exhausted all their alternatives before proposing hundreds of millions in new debt.
Sincerely,
Scott Henson
Austin (Tyler native)
Both the sheriff and the Tyler PD have refused to allow their officers to use new discretion created this year by the Legislature to issue a summons instead of making an arrest for certain low-level, non-violent offenses. Under HB 2391, signed into law by the governor earlier this year, officers can choose to give tickets instead arresting people suspected of:
The idea was to reduce overcrowding at local jails and keep more officers out on the street instead of spending hours booking suspects for low-level crimes. But several DAs and local law enforcement officials have thwarted the law's implementation in much of the state.
In San Antonio, Bexar DA Susan Reed is also blocking the law's implementation, even though it would save the county more than $10,000 per day. In Harris County (Houston), DA Chuck Rosenthal announced he would use his prosecutorial discretion to refuse cases where officers exercised this new authority, undermining any possible use in that jurisdiction. Since Harris County voters also rejected a new jail on Tuesday, Rosenthal should now back off that position, and both county sheriffs and local police departments in Harris and Smith counties should reconsider their refusal to exercise this new authority. Ignoring the only tool given you to reduce overcrowding while simultaneously paying other counties to house local offenders doesn't make economic or political sense.
Smith and Harris counties both need their judges to do more to reduce pretrial detention, particularly for non-violent misdemeanants and state jail felons. The purpose of pretrial detention is not to assist prosecutors in extracting a guilty plea. Both counties' jurists need to rely more heavily on recommendations from their pretrial services divisions, which exist to recommend offenders who are good candidates for release on low bail or personal bond, but whose recommendations in practice in both counties are routinely ignored.
Tyler District Judge Cynthia Kent came up with a slew of proposals after the first jail bond defeat to reduce overincarceration through alternatives and strengthened probation, but the county commissioners court at first only funded one of the litany of ideas suggested in her plan. The new day reporting center has been a huge success, and the recently funded drug court and new expedited case docket will help. But much more needs to be done. Smith County commissioners should go back to Judge Kent, hat in hand, and ask her to provide leadership to face the county's overincarceration problem head on. She's on the right track, if her cohorts will follow her lead instead of resisting.
After Tuesday's election, neither Harris nor Smith County has a choice. For the time being jail building is off the table, so all there is to do is seek community-based solutions and strengthen pretrial and probation supervision. And they'd better get started soon. In fact, both counties should have started such initiatives a long time ago. Then voters might have more confidence that they'd exhausted all their alternatives before proposing hundreds of millions in new debt.
Sincerely,
Scott Henson
Austin (Tyler native)
