Detention center expands house arrest program to save money
Ankle bracelets and electronic monitoring will become more widely used in Clark County this year as officials look for ways to save money and decrease the soaring inmate population at the Clark County Detention Center.
One part of that push will mean a wide expansion of the house arrest program, which allows inmates to leave the jail cells and live at their homes with an ankle bracelet and strict monitoring by detention center staff.
The Metropolitan Police Department, which runs the detention center, is working with county officials and the justice system to look for ways to decrease the length of stays in the jail, where it costs about $140 a day to house each inmate.
That’s where the house arrest program comes in. The program currently has about 250 inmates, and officials intend to add another 150 inmates, bringing the total to 400.
Officials have a large pool of inmates to choose from, jail data show. A county analysis of the population on Jan. 29 found that 735 inmates out of 3,875 were doing time after a misdemeanor conviction. Some 476 of those misdemeanor offenders were in for a nonviolent offense, such as petty larceny.
County management has budgeted four more corrections officers for the expansion. About 10 corrections officers now staff the program, supported by a civilian staff of five. The program has a budget of about $1.5 million for this fiscal year. Metro runs the detention center and house arrest program, which the county funds.
Metro Deputy Chief Charles Hank III, division commander of detention services, said the program’s expansion will allow the detention to focus on housing violent offenders.
Hank stressed that the agency will continue to keep public safety in mind when expanding the program. Examples of inmates who are eligible for the program are those who have committed petty theft or written a bad check.
“They have to be nonviolent offenders,” Hank said. “We’re not going to put a homicide suspect out. We’re not going to put a sexual assault suspect out. We’re not going to put these folks that are deemed a danger to society out there.”
The officers who will be added to the program aren’t rookies; they’re all corrections officers who have at least several years of experience. They’ll be trained and in place this fiscal year, before the new budget cycle starts on July 1.
Hank said the goal is to get close — if not achieve — the target increase by July 1. But he stressed the department is not cutting corners to do that.
“We’re not making it an absolute because there’s a variety of factors that play into that,” he said of the time frame. “We’re not going to put somebody out there on house arrest who shouldn’t be out there.”
Officials have to look at more than just the conviction and the offense. For example, someone also needs to have a residence and cannot be homeless. For defendants transitioning out of a negative living environment, that can be challenging, Hank said.
Each set of circumstances is different for each inmate, so each one needs to be looked at on a case-by-case basis before deciding if they’re suitable for house arrest, he said.
Each inmate has to check in on a weekly basis at the detention center. They’re also assigned different rules, such as drug tests and curfews for when to be home.
In a way, the phrase “house arrest” is a misleading phrase, Hank said.
The ankle bracelets and GPS technology allows the house arrest inmates to move beyond their residence to other approved locations. For example, they can tell their officer they have a doctor’s appointment, giving the address and time, so it’s programmed in.
In some cases, they’re allowed to have jobs. They also can go to church.
House arrest officers can respond to assigned inmates around the clock if they violate the rules. If the inmates venture outside their assigned locations, the officer will get alerts notifying them.
Officers also get alerts if the equipment is tampered with or the batteries run low.
Given the privilege the program affords — and the knowledge that they go back to jail for a violation — the risks of house arrest inmates is low, Hank said.
“They realize they’ve been given a good opportunity to serve their sentence in a different environment,” he said. “It’s just very unlikely. They don’t have a high noncompliance rate.”
The move to expand the program comes as the detention center is running a $21.9 million deficit this fiscal year.
Including the house arrest program’s expansion, county officials hope to reduce the jail population by 550 to 600 inmates, which would generate a savings of about $16 million.
The house arrest expansion will help the county’s efforts to reduce the population, County Manager Don Burnette said, adding that it also will help the jail reduce overtime expenses.
“Those are another 150 people that don’t have to be sitting in jail,” he said.
Other efforts include reducing bail schedules for nonviolent offenders, allowing more defendants to be out while their cases are pending. County officials are talking to judges, the district attorney’s office and the public defender’s office about the changes.
Clark County Public Defender Phil Kohn said the house arrest program is a good tool for helping nonviolent offenders serve their sentence without sitting in jail and costing the county more money. But plenty of work is needed to address other aspects, such as the mentally ill and homeless inmates, he said.