PLEADING FOR SPACE

New Court Docket May Keep Jail Numbers Down

Don't call it a rocket docket. That's what Jefferson County judges and
prosecutors did a few years ago when they used civil court judges and
overtime to move trials and cases up so inmate overcrowding in the
county jail could be relieved.

At that time, the Jefferson County Commission was considering
building a new jail. The rocket docket, however, was so successful
that the county was able to save millions of dollars and still ease
jail crowding.

The new plan, however, doesn't depend on asking civil court judges to
do criminal cases on the bench or on holding trials quickly. Under the
direction of veteran prosecutor Laura Petro, her office and court
officials will determine which nonviolent criminal cases are,
basically, open-and-shut. Those are the ones where the outcome is
clear, but the defendants have been waiting in jail for months, mostly
because they can't afford bail. Petro's office will make plea offers
which, if accepted, could cut as much as four months off jail time.

Such a plan is needed because the Jefferson County jail continues to
be overcrowded. The jail was built for 620 inmates, but housing 1,000
or more isn't unusual. Many of the inmates more than 200 a couple
weeks ago are state inmates, and should be moved from county lockup to
state prison within 30 days. That often doesn't happen because state
prisons are overcrowded, too, with more than 27,600 inmates in prisons
built to hold 15,000.

Making sure that nonviolent criminals aren't taking up valuable space
in jails that can be used for violent inmates is an important goal.
Circuit Judge James Hard will handle the new docket, beginning this
week. Petro, Hard and court officials will review cases and pick those
eligible for the special docket. A plea is then offered to the
defendant, and it'll likely be a better deal than the defendant would
get if he insisted on waiting for a trial.

Petro, Hard and others involved have many years of experience. They
know which cases are most likely to settle without a trial, and it
makes sense to go ahead and settle those instead of waiting for a
trial that probably never will happen anyway.

Depending on the success of the special docket, Petro should consider
making the fast-track plea bargain strategy permanent, to help keep
the jail population from reaching crisis numbers in the future.

Jail space should be reserved for the violent criminals, not
nonviolent criminals who simply can't make a pretrial bond.