Cabarrus Cheap Seats

The following is a statement submitted by Coy Privette describing his stance on Pre-Trial release.

Information from the NC Pre-Trial Services Association Meeting on January 19 and 20, 2006 at Wake County Public Safety 

Center, Raleigh, NC

Presented by Coy Privette to Cabarrus County Commissioners

I want to thank members of this board for allowing me to attend this event. I wish to give you a review of what other counties are doing to address jail overcrowding and provide public safety to its citizens.

One of the interesting characteristics of the meeting is the variety of pre-trial programs throughout the state. Some are administrate red by the Sheriff’s Department; some by the county manager; and some by the Criminal Justice Partnership Program.

One of the most popular pre-trial services is Electronic House Arrest. The state has utilized Electronic House Arrest for more than a decade for convicted of a crime. Now, it is being used for those awaiting trial who are not able to secure bail. Testimony was given that house arrest provides better surveillance than those on bail. If they are on house arrest, law enforcement officers know where the defendants are in comparison of those on bail who could be anywhere.

Some of the Electronic House Arrest programs that were discussed:

Cabarrus Population: 131,983

1. Randolph County (Population: 130,454) where 25 are currently on House Arrest. The coordinator of the program stated that Mecklenburg County officials looked at their program prior to Christmas with the idea of implementing it in Mecklenburg County.

2. Pitt County: (Population: 134,936) This program is supervised by a Cabarrus County native, Eric Todd. They have 60 on Electronic House Arrest. Each person pays $5.00 a day which covers the lease on the equipment and the cost of monitoring. They have plans to increase the fee to $9.00 per day in order to hire another coordinator and expand the programs to 85. It costs the county $55.00 per day to house a person in its jail.

3. Brunswick County: (population 73,144) This program is under the Criminal Justice Partnership. They have 60 on Electronic House Arrest, and the cost of program is $2.80 a day which includes the cost of the equipment and monitoring.

4. Moore County: (Population: 75,164) This program is under the Sheriff’s Department, and they currently have 25 on Electronic House Arrest with the programs. The cost of their program is $1.52 a day to lease the equipment and $1.28 a day to monitor. Each in-mate pays $5.00 a day to be on the program. When you consider its costs the tax-payers $63 a day to have a person in jail, it is a considerable savings to the tax-payer. As it was pointed out, they eat out of their own refrigerator and pay their own medical bills. One person on House Arrest had a medical bill more than $50,000. If that person had been in jail, the county would have had to pay that medical bill.

5. New Hanover County (Population: 160,307) They currently have 69 persons on House Arrest, and it is estimated that this program is saving the county $3 million per year.

6. Stanly County: (Population: 58,100) It has implemented both Electronic House Arrest and a similar program as the Rowan Pre-Trial Release Program.

7. Cumberland County: (Population:300,893) It has 100 individuals on a pre-trial program similar to the Rowan County program.

8. Mecklenburg County: (Population: 747,427) Their representative at the meeting stated that they are making preparation to implement Electronic House Arrest. Mecklenburg is hoping to have at least 150 inmates on House Arrest within one year. It is estimated that it costs $109 a day to keep a person in a detention center. Their electronic house arrest program will probably cost $15.00 per day.

They are planning to use the newer equipment that can track an inmate’s location within 15 feet and can send updates to law enforcement officials at least once a minute.

Conference participants confirmed that their programs have the enthusiastic support of their Sheriffs; their District Attorneys; and District Court Judges. Without their support, their programs could not have achieved the success rate that they have.

Pre-trial programs have a better success rate for those showing up for their trial dates than those who are on bail.

None of the counties with a pre-trial program is having to transport in-mates to other counties as we are planning to do.

Program participants have issued an open invitation to examine their programs before launching into a program.

I am convinced with my knowledge of the programs that we will not need a $60 million facility as we have been led to construct.

One other word, an interesting article in the Charlotte Observer pointed out because of the crowded conditions in state facilities that the state is going to use county jails to house state prisoners. We will be building not a local jail but a state prison.

Thank you again for making it possible to attend this conference. It was time well spent.

Respectfully Submitted,

Coy C. Privette

Cabarrus County Commissioner