BC 2006 01 23 REGULAR - Laserfiche WebLink

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January 23, 2006 - Regular Meeting Page 482 it is impossible for us to eliminate entirely the incarceration for chronic or repeated nonpayment support. It is possible that we have already incarceration to the extent that the overall percentage support collections has dropped, but at this time we other option. need for of child reduced of child have no In part because of the jail crowding, local law enforcement officers often do not arrest defendants for many criminal offenses. Instead they just issue paper citations or criminal summons for significant misdemeanor crimes--even for cases such as drug offenses, thefts, and cases involving repeat offenders-- because they know that the jail overcrowding is severe. Many of these repeat offenders would be in custody under bond today if there were jail space to hold them. In short, out of nearly 250 people in jail awaiting trial, no more than 1 to 5 individuals in the Cabarrus County jail at any given time would typically qualify for pretrial Electronic House Arrest in the programs that are conducted in the other counties. The Cabarrus County defendants who would qualify for Electronic House Arrest in the other counties are already released here on citations, criminal summons, or upon their written promise to appear in court, because we do not have the space to permit us to require a bond. Thus, a pretrial Electronic House Arrest program may affect some people who are now already released because there is no room in the jail. However, pretrial Electronic House Arrest will NOT make any significant reduction in the Cabarrus County jail population. Furthermore, the establishment of pretrial Electronic House Arrest for Cabarrus County will require substantial additional funding for equipment, monitoring, and a minimum of 5 to 10 additional Sheriffs personnel to provide constant 24-hour a day, 7-day a week follow-up supervision to see that these few people are ALWAYS where they are supposed to be. Some of the same people suggesting pretrial Electronic House Arrest have also suggested that the jail overcrowding is somehow the result of undue delays in the Cabarrus County courts. We agree that sometimes cases are not resolved as promptly as we would all like. The courts suffer from a continuing lack of additional resources and the lack of personnel committed to the courts by our state government over the last three years. We have experienced an increase in case filings in some areas approaching 30% over the last three years. In spite of those challenges, the latest statewide case aging statistics show that our county is among the top three (out of 39 districts statewide) in virtually every overall category of district court case management. Furthermore, in the area of non- motor vehicle criminal cases, our Cabarrus County District Court ranks first in the state among the districts in average age of pending cases. As a result, jail overcrowding is not merely a threat to the jailers and the prisoners, but is becoming an increasing threat to the safety of the community as well. Whatever the benefits of such a program may be in other counties, instituting a pretrial Electronic House Arrest program will NOT address the basic problem of j ail overcrowding in Cabarrus County. Such a program will NOT do anything to make our community safer. In fact, such a program seems designed to place additional dangerous persons at large in our communities. Thank you for your continuing attention to this matter. Sincerely, /s/ William G. Hamby, Jr. Chief District Court Judge /s/ W. Erwin Spainhour Resident Superior Court Judge /s/ Brad Riley Sheriff of Cabarrus County /s/ Roxann Vaneekhoven District Attorney, Judicial District 19-A /s/ Donna H. Johnson District Court Judge /s/ Michael G. Knox District Court Judge