1. Safety and Justice Challenge: An Effort to Reduce the Jail Population
Presentation to the Criminal Justice Committee of City Council
April 5, 2017

2. Orleans Parish Jail Population 2011 to Present

3. Orleans Parish Jail Population 2015 to Present
ADP = 1,477

4. Safety and Justice Challenge Population Target
-21%

5. Strategy 1: Reduce admissions for individuals charged with low-level offenses and individuals with patterns of high reentry into the criminal justice system due to behavioral health needs
Deflect individuals with mental illness and substance use disorder from arrest
Amend NOPD’s summons policy to remove restrictions based on criminal history
Reduce arrests for individuals booked on only an out-of-parish warrant

6. PROGRESS NEXT STEPS Seattle site visit (LEAD program)
Selected pilot district
Secured add’l funding from multiple sources ($328,000)
Revised summons policy submitted to DOJ
Roundtable with NOPD officers re: out-of-parish arrests
NEXT STEPS
Conduct focus groups with police officers and impacted individuals (this month)
Complete behavioral health system map
Partner agencies make policy decisions

7. Strategy 2: Reduce the average length of stay of lower-risk felony defendants during the pretrial stage by focusing resources on risk-based release decisions
Implement Arnold Foundation’s Public Safety Assessment (PSA) Model
Dedicate Public Defenders to First Appearance
Institutionalize Bond Review Hearings
Increase the use of “release on recognizance” at bond hearings

8. PROGRESS NEXT STEPS Selected to implement PSA Model
MOU approved by City Council
OPD hired 2 public defenders and a client advocate dedicated to bond hearings
Related: transitioned Pretrial Services to Supreme Court/ Criminal District Court
NEXT STEPS
Create plan to implement PSA Model and Release Decision Framework (re: ROR)
Establish
protocol for
docketing
bond review
hearings

9. Strategy 3: Reduce average length of stay of felony defendants by reducing system inefficiencies
Hire a Justice System Administrator “jail facilitator”
Expedite arrest to arraignment for victimless crimes
Docket arrests on capias within 48 hours
Expand implementation of aiSmartBench in Criminal District Court and Municipal Court

10. PROGRESS NEXT STEPS Hired Justice System Administrator
aiSmartBench implementing in Municipal Court
Implemented new policies to docket arrests on capias
Reduced arrest to arraignment time to 36 days from 44 days (18%)
NEXT STEPS
Justice System Administrator to start in May
Implement aiSmartBench in up to 4 CDC courtrooms
Continue to identify system inefficiencies and bring to Jail Population Management (JPM) Subcommittee

11. Strategy 4: Reduce admissions and length of stay for alleged probation and parole violators by encouraging officer and judicial discretion in using detention
Increase use of administrative sanctions rather than revocation for technical violations
Improve probation and parole violation process
Decrease the impact of detainers on probation defendants

12. PROGRESS
CDC approved administrative sanctions to be used in all probation cases
10-day detention hearings will occur in one courtroom
NEXT STEPS
CDC to approve 10-day detention hearings in all courtrooms
Probation and Parole will select detention criteria for defendants awaiting a violation hearing

13. Strategy 5: Reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system
Receive technical assistance from Burns Institute to review racial bias within each of the bodies of work
Implicit bias training
Improve the capacity of the Jail Management System to capture ethnicity data

14. PROGRESS
Site visit from Burns Institute with JPM Subcommittee
Reviewing racial disparity data at several decision points
NEXT STEPS
JPM Subcommittee will select an existing SJC strategy & develop a plan to reduce disparity within that strategy
Ongoing TA from Burns Institute
OPSO to replace its Jail Management System

15. Strategy 6: Regularly monitor progress according to pre-defined benchmarks and use those data to optimize strategies as needed
Implement JailSTAT within Jail Population Management Subcommittee
Develop a community engagement strategy and launch a Community Advisory Group

16. PROGRESS
Starting in 2017, JPM Subcommittee meeting structure includes a JailSTAT component
Community members have convened 4 times to develop community engagement strategy and review progress on the Challenge
Selected a facilitator for Community Advisory Group
NEXT STEPS
Release application for Community Advisory Group and select membership

17. Strategy 7: Reduce admissions for warrants by decreasing failure to appear (FTA) rates in Criminal District Court and Municipal Court
Implement an indigency assessment at sentencing to scale discretionary fees and fines based on ability to pay
Implement court date notification/reminder system
Redesign language on summons forms to clarify time, date and location of court appearances, and to clarify a summons is an arrest

18. PROGRESS
Designed workflow that will integrate multiple data sources to text defendants in CDC
Created proposed matrix to scale fines and fees based on ability to pay
NOPD improved language on its summons form for readability and clarity of consequences
NEXT STEPS
Develop court date notification system in Criminal District Court and pursue solution in Municipal Court
Pilot indigency assessment in one CDC courtroom before expanding to other courts
NOPD to launch e-citations, including revised summons form

19. Questions?