Chapter 6: Jails and Pretrial Release

Serious mental illness

A narrow category used to identify convicted offenders suffering from such conditions as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia spectrum disorder, or major depression.

New-generation jails

Facilities using a specific architectural design and inmate supervision model in order to reduce violent and destructive behavior by the inmates.

Pretrial release

Finding a way to balance the interests of both the community and the accused.

Jails

Confinement facilities usually operated by city or county governments and typically managed by that government's law enforcement agency. • Operated by local government (except in AK, CT, DE, HI, RI, and VT). • Hold convicted misdemeanants (usually on sentences up to one year). • Typically hold males and females in separate units of the same facility. • Serve as a detention facility for persons not yet convicted of a crime. (Some differences between jails and prisons). Persons in jail are more likely to be male and White non-Hispanic/Latino.

Intermittent supervision

Inmate supervision method when custodial staff members are able to observe or interact with inmates only on an irregular or sporadic basis. • This is used in linear style jails. • Surveillance is intermittent and security relies more on physical barriers than on active supervision of inmates. (Types of jail supervision).

Direct supervision.

Inmate supervision method wherein custodial staff are placed—for their entire shift—in the inmates living area.

Indirect supervision (remote supervision)

Inmate supervision method wherein custodial staff observe and interact with inmates remotely by watching through windows and listening via microphones.

Linear facilities

Jails and prisons designed with single or multiple occupancy cells aligned along corridors that, in turn, are often stacked in tiers.

Regimentation, lack of privacy, and unquestioned response to authority.

Jails must provide a secure environment for the safety of both inmates and staff. However, security measures developed to control male inmates may not be necessary or appropriate for female inmates. Because most female offenders are arrested for non-violent crimes, they may not need the same high-security supervision that men require. Keeping cell doors unlocked or open, allowing greater interaction among the women inmates, and training staff in nonthreatening management techniques may actually result in a more tranquil women's unit.

Indian country

Land within an Indian reservation or land that is technically owned by the federal government but held in trust for a tribe or tribal member.

"Mega" jails

The country's largest jails, holding over 1,000 people each.

Pretrial assessment

The intended outcome is to reduce the number of pretrial defendants who fail to make required court appearances by providing the court official, who is making the pre-trial release decision, with information about the defendant. That information should help the judicial officer decide whether release in the community or detention in jail is more appropriate. Court official receives information to help decide whether release to community or jail is more appropriate.

Prisons

• Operated by the state or federal government. • Hold convicted felons (usually on sentences of one year and more). • Typically hold males and females in separate facilities. • Serve as a custody facility for persons already convicted and sentenced.

Podular direct supervision

• This is used in new-generation jails. • Surveillance is continuous and supervision is direct as officers intermingle with inmates. (Types of jail supervision).

Podular indirect supervision

• This is used in new-generation jails. • Surveillance is continuous observation of inmates from an officer's station in a secure room separated from the inmate living area. (Types of jail supervision).

1. Those of the community. 2. Those of the suspect.

When authorities arrest a person suspected of having committed a crime, what are the 2 conflicting goals that are put in motion?

Mental health disorder

A broad category used to identify convicted offenders who are considered to have mental health problems as a result of self-reported clinical diagnosis or treatment by a mental health professional.

10 things we know about women in jails

1. Women, who typically enter the criminal justice system for non-violent crimes that are often drug and/or property related, pose a lower public safety risk then do men. Incidence of violence and aggression committed by incarcerated women are extremely low. 2. The pathways taken by women into the criminal justice system are different from those taken by men. Women entering jails are much more likely to have experienced poverty, intimate partner violence, sexual abuse, and/or other forms of victimization often linked to their offending behavior. 3. Their exposure to dysfunctional and abusive relationships throughout their lives can elevate women's risk for future victimization, and their often unhealthy relationships (with men or others) can lead to their own involvement in crime and criminal justice. 4. Women entering jails and prisons often can report histories of victimization and trauma, and continue to be vulnerable to victimization within correctional settings. In addition, incarcerated women with a history of trauma and accompanying mental health concerns are more likely to have difficulties with jail and prison adjustment and misconduct. 5. Because they have largely been developed with male inmates in mind, the policies and practices in jails do not reflect an understanding of the risk and needs of female offenders. Gender differences may be ignored or not adapted for women during classification, screening, and assessment. 6. Most jail classification systems have not been normed and validated specifically for women; yet they are often used to guide key housing and security decisions. A typical result is unreliable custody designations and over-classification of female inmates. Women classified as high-risk actually have re-offense and misconduct rates that are more similar to medium-risk men and medium-risk women look more like low-risk men. 7. Gender informed risk assessment tools that include risk factors such as depression, psychotic symptoms, housing safety, and parental stress are needed to more accurately identify women's risks and needs. 8. When jail staff members understand trauma and its effects on women, use trauma-informed strategies when interacting with female inmates, and engage in cognitive problem solving with female inmates, facility safety and security is enhanced for both staff and inmates. 9. Because of their overwhelming needs, transition and reentry from jail can be especially challenging for women. In addition, women are more likely than men to have primary child-rearing responsibilities and are often single parents. Finding "safe" housing where women can live and support their children is very challenging. 10. When women released from incarceration are rearrested and returned to confinement, it is most often for technical violations rather than new crimes. The incidents often stem from unmet "survival needs," such as difficulty meeting financial obligations, lower employment skills, or the inability to secure safe housing. Implementing gender-responsive practices can help reduce women's involvement in the criminal justice system, and that benefits women and their families, their communities, and society in the long term. Source: From "10 Facts About Women in Jails" By Becki Ney in American Jails, Vol. 27, Issue. 06, pp. 08-10. Copyright 2014, American Jail Association.

Integrated jail-prison systems

A state government, rather than the more typical local government agency, is responsible for the administration and operation of jails located throughout the state.

Bail bond

A written agreement by the defendant to pay cash or relinquish property to the court if the defendant fails to attend required court appearances.

New generation jails

Beginning in the 1970s, facility design and inmate supervision began changing.

Information disclosure

Both women and men should have a detailed understanding of what will happen during their time of incarceration, but jail administrators should be aware that each group may need different kinds of information. For example, female inmates especially will want information regarding their children and what childcare arrangements have been made.

• Receive individuals pending arraignment and hold them while awaiting trial, conviction, or sentencing. • Readmit probation, parole, and bail-bond violators and absconders. • Temporarily detain juveniles pending transfer to juvenile authorities. • Hold mentally ill persons pending their movement to appropriate health facilities. • Hold individuals for the military, for protective custody, for contempt, and for the courts as witnesses. • Release convicted inmates to the community upon completion of sentence. • Transfer inmates to federal, state, or other authorities. • House inmates for federal, state, or other authorities because of crowding of their facilities. • Sometimes operate community-based programs as alternatives to incarceration (Minton & Zeng, 2015).

Contemporary jails serve many purposes, including what?

Treatment services

Incarcerated women, more so than incarcerated men, report that they want someone to talk to—not necessarily someone to solve their problems, just someone who will listen. Women inmates, especially those who are victims of abuse, also tend to find single-gender group treatment activities preferable to mixed-gender groups. Recognizing and responding to these preferences may allow jail staff to provide a more effective treatment response to their female inmates.

Women in jail

Most jail inmates are male (85%) but the proportion of female jail inmates increased from 9 percent in 1990, to 15 percent in 2014. Jails were created for male inmates and a result is that security and treatment practices may be inappropriate for females: Modification of the jail environment and procedures are needed to assure secure and humane confinement conditions for women. Suggestions for accommodating needs of women in jail: Provide information about inmate's children and child-care arrangements. Keep cell doors unlocked, allow greater interaction among women inmates, train staff in nonthreatening management. Provide single-gender group treatment activities.

Released to the community without a financial obligation

No bail is required for release.

Benefits of direct supervision

Officer has immediate visual observation of inmates and the ability to interact freely with them. Allows for continuous rather than intermittent or remote supervision. Safer environment for inmates and staff is created.

Inmate supervision changes

Old linear style relied on intermittent supervision by staff. New generation facilities provide increased visual surveillance: - From a remote observation area (indirect supervision), or... - With staff in the inmates' common area (direct supervision).

1. Pretrial assessment. 2. Pretrial supervision.

Pretrial service programs are designed to achieve what 2 goals (Stevenson & Legg, 2010; VanNostrand, 2007).

Pretrial supervision

Provide pre-trial service workers with information that will assist in monitoring and supervising pretrial defendants who are released pending trial. Case workers receive information to assist in monitoring and supervising those released pending trial.

Defendant uses bail bondsman

Release to the community with a financial obligation (bail bond): Defendant used bail bondsman, who posts bond in return for a nonrefundable fee. Defendant gives bondsman a nonrefundable fee (for example, 10% of the bail amount) and bondsman posts bail for defendant.

Defendant posts own bail bond

Release to the community with a financial obligation (bail bond): When defendant appears in court as promised, they will have cash returned or property bond released. Defendant posts own bail bond, which is returned upon meeting court appearance requirements.

Release on recognizance (ROR)

Release to the community without a financial obligation: Pretrial release based only on the defendant's promise to appear for trial (not backed with money or property). Defendant is released simply on a promise to appear for trial.

Conditional release

Release to the community without a financial obligation: The return of prisoners to a larger community with a brief period of supervision with rules, such as curfew, treatment completion, and maintaining employment. Can be used either pre-trial or post conviction. Defendant is released on a promise to fulfill some requirement, such as staying employed or participating in a treatment program.

The Mentally ill in Jail

There are more mentally ill in jails than in hospitals today. - Rate of mental illness in jails and prisons is AT LEAST three times the general public rate. - America's jails and prisons are our new mental hospitals. Why so many mentally ill in jail?: - Actions are often more indicative of mental illness than of criminal behavior. - Although picked up for minor offenses, mentally ill inmates stay longer. - The mentally ill may be easier to catch, more likely to be convicted, and more often get jail or prison sentence. Optimism found in jail-based treatment programs and in diversion to community-based services.

Released to the community with a financial obligation (bail bond)

This requires a written agreement to pay cash or to cash or to relinquish property to the court if the defendant fails to appear in court as required.

Jail design changes

Traditional design was linear, wherein single- or multi-occupancy cells are aligned along corridors: Security relied on physical containment such as metal doors and bars. New generation design is podular, wherein walls of a pie-shaped pod are lined with cells or rooms around a common area where inmates eat and socialize: - Security relies on staff skills.

1. Information disclosure. 2. Regimentation, lack of privacy, and unquestioned response to authority. 3. Treatment services.

Veysey and her colleagues (1998, pp. 52-53) offer what suggestions for how to accommodate the needs of women in jail?

1. That the defendant refrain from causing further harm in the community. 2. That the defendant appear in court at the required time.

What are the 2 goals of the community when considering pre-trial release?

1. Facility design. 2. Inmate supervision.

What are the 2 key features of jail management?

1. Posts own bail bond. 2. Uses bail bondsman. 3. Release on recognizance. 4. Conditional release.

What are the four types of pretrial release?

1. Those who have committed crimes under federal law. 2. Those who have committed crimes under tribal law.

What are the two types of Indian offenders that are detained in Indian country jails (Summerhill, 2005)?

Unsecured bond

When a defendant is released without having to make any payment but is liable for the full bail amount if required court appearances are missed.