SARASOTA COUNTY – Back when the jail was overcrowded and the economy was soaring, the Sarasota County Commission decided to spend $1.3 million a year on a program to keep arrested people from unnecessarily sitting in jail.
The idea was for inmates who could not afford bail to be released with conditions such as calling in twice a week and coming in for random drug and alcohol screenings.

The resulting empty jail beds would be a money-saver for the county and defer the need for a new jail.

But now that budgets are tight and the jail is under capacity, the County Commission is looking at whether the Pretrial Services program is worth the cost.

The commission doubled the program’s budget in 2005 so it could run 24 hours a day, part of a broader push to ease jail overcrowding.

In the pretrial program, new inmates are interviewed and undergo background checks so a judge can determine whether they should be released while awaiting trial with the conditions attached.

The program targets nonviolent inmates who cannot afford to pay bail to get out of jail. Manatee County started a similar program last year.

But the program has never been independently evaluated, and local defense attorneys say it is a waste of money.

Criminal justice officials have said pretrial services saved the county an average of $2.2 million per year since 2003 by reducing the jail population, since it costs $71 per day to detain an inmate.

Twelfth Circuit Chief Judge Lee Haworth says the program has reduced the number of repeat offenders by steering them into drug or mental health programs earlier than normal, though no statistics prove it.

“It’s a great tool for protecting the community, and allowing people who have not been convicted to stay out of jail,” Haworth said.

But some defense attorneys say many first-time defendants who used to be released without any supervision now find themselves on a program that many defendants, who have not been convicted, say is more onerous than probation.

“We’re spending money to employ someone to take their phone call once a week, or ask them to come urinate,” Sarasota defense attorney Derek Byrd said.

Attorneys say judges overuse the pretrial release program. Clients then face the demands of a pretrial release in addition to posting bail, said Varinia Van Ness, the president of the local chapter of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

“It’s like you’re on probation before you’re even sentenced,” Van Ness said.

A review team conducted a two-day site visit this month, meeting with court officials and defense lawyers.

The study proposal said county commissioners are uncertain whether the program is working.

When the program was expanded, the jail was over capacity. On average in 2008, there were 26 more inmates than the 1,026 beds at the jail.

The downturn in the economy and subsequent reduction in arrests has dramatically curbed the need. The jail has averaged fewer than 900 inmates in the past five months.

Court Administrator Walt Smith said the program still generates information judges use to help keep the public safe.

“We think we have a good program, but if there’s a better way to do it, a more efficient way to do it, a better outcome, we’re all for that,” Smith said.

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