RePath Round Up--Pre-Trial in New York
the First Step Act, the state of the states, and a pirate looking guy with a blow torch
Pre-Trial Supervision in New York City: Starting in 2015, NYC began an extensive “Supervised Release Program” which it now views as successfully contributing to a 1,200 person decrease in the daily jail count and reduced failures to appear. The “approach” is said to have earned attention and accolades, in addition to awards recognition. It involves a basic probation officer model of supervision and offers support from peer mentors or social workers.
While the initial report does show certain measures of success, the program has the same problems that plague so many reform attempts: cost, time, scale, limits of success, and durability. The program cost $15-25 per individual per day (which would cost the City over $500M per year for all of its active cases), it took 5 years for conception, implementation, and analysis, it was only able to enroll a “small fraction” of the pre-trial defendants in the city, it had no positive impact on the rate of re-arrest or the number of bench warrants for failures to appear, and, when impacted by the larger bail reform effort in the state, was not able to adequately scale at a reasonable cost. The program now serves a different and somewhat larger group of defendants at an annual cost in excess of $100M.
If we only had a way for New York and other states to provide services, support, communication, SUD treatment and accountability to all participants in a way that increases efficiency and saves taxpayer funds.
Also in New York—A bite in the big apple: A New York City councilwoman was arrested at a protest after allegedly biting an NYPD deputy chief. She and 6 others were arrested at the protest. When asked if she bit the officer, the councilwoman replied: “That, talk to our lawyer. The truth will come out.” That sounds like a yes.
Cheaper phone calls: On July 18th, the FCC finally placed universal caps on phone and video call rates for incarcerated individuals and their families. The new rates also eliminate a number of extra fees and can result in a cost reduction in excess of 80%.
The First Step Act: The Department of Justice has released its annual report for the Trump era reform measure called the First Step Act. You can read all 50 pages of the report here. The report reveals the federal Bureau of Prisons worked over the past several years to better calculate time credits to accelerate conditional release dates, expand the use of home confinement, increase capacity and participation for recidivism reduction programs, and it created a “Release ID Card” to bridge the ID gap for individuals released without state IDs. The report reveals a 9.7% recidivism rate under the First Step Act v. an overall Bureau of Prisons recidivism rate of 43%.
Operation Promise turns to chaos: A Los Angeles graduation that included 29 “detained youth on probation” erupted into a brawl after a community member jumped from a balcony to attack one of the graduates. The brawl started a second melee outside of the auditorium that included gunshots. State law stopped referring to the youth on probation as “at-risk” in 2020 and replaced that term with “at-promise.” They can take the “risk” out of the language, but reality isn’t so easily moved.
The State of the States: Each year, the various governors give a “state of the state” address that highlight priorities for their administrations. In an unsurprising move, many focused their criminal justice initiatives on fentanyl and substance abuse along with investments in law enforcement to reduce violent crime. The Council of State Governments provides a handy summary for each state here.
Stranger Stuff
Enterprise zone: A Texas inmate had nearly $30,000 in his commissary account from selling cannabis-laced papers to fellow inmates.
A tale as old as time: Man steals ambulance in Atlanta. Paramedics still inside. Paramedics jump from moving vehicle during high-speed police chase. Suspect almost runs over an officer setting road spikes. Man loses control after police pit maneuver and crashes into pole. Man runs on foot, gets tasered, is taken into custody. End scene.
It can be done: In 2021, Joel Caston became the first incarcerated person to win elected office in Washington, D.C. He is an advisory neighborhood official commissioner for the area that includes his jail. His goal is to give voice to the voiceless and he reports feeling “presidential.”
Is this real life?: San Francisco nudists saved a Brazilian tourist from a blow-torch attack attempted by a “crazy kind of pirate guy” in broad daylight in the city’s Castro district. This impossible set of facts is completely true and captured on pixilated video.
Dun-Dun . . . Dun-Dun . . . DunDunDunDunDunDun: A deep-sea diving defendant failed to convince the court to remove his ankle monitor because it attracts sharks.
Why did it have to be snakes?: A man was caught trying to smuggle 104 live snakes down his pants into mainland China.
Toasted: An Austin man has been arrested for assaulting a retail employee with Pop Tarts.
Rules are Rules: A Texas mom was issued an arrest warrant for her kids’ overdue library books.
All your Dreams and Terrors: A company called Throwflame has announced a robot dog with an attached flame thrower. According to the company, the “Terminator” can be useful to wildlife control and prevention while also clearing snow from driveways.
