At every corner one can hear people in Yellowstone County claim that more jail space is needed to combat the rising crime rate. But many county officials are dubious that that would solve the problem. They point to other aspects of the judicial system that are creating bottlenecks that keep the jail full and allow misdemeanor criminals to remain on the streets.
A special committee is being established to delve deeply into the entire judicial process to more accurately identify the problems and establish priorities.
County Attorney Scott Twito reported to county commissioners on Monday that he is appointing a sub-committee of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) which will be made up of a number of people representing various aspects of the community including city and county officials, law enforcement, judges, a legislator and others, to meet twice monthly to closely examine the many aspects of the judicial system and report recommendations to CJCC regarding solutions to best address the surge in criminal activity that has occurred in the community.
“This is a path to find out what all the problems are,” said Twito, “It is designed to talk about all the issues.”
County commissioners, as well as Twito and the county sheriff, have at various times expressed doubt that expanding the jail is the solution. If the jail is expanded, it will fill up, and the real problem will still exist, since there are more fundamental issues involved that slow the process of adjudicating those arrested, including mental health evaluations that can sometimes take as much as a year to accomplish, a shortage of attorneys, and other procedural bottlenecks.
One suggestion that will be closely evaluated is the possibility of building a misdemeanor holding facility, which would allow misdemeanor perpetrators to be held for one or two days while waiting to go before a judge or in cases of public intoxication to be held until they are sober. County Commissioners have approved $150,000 to fund the development of a master plan of the Yellowstone County Detention Facility to determine what kind of expansion it can accommodate. The funding will also be available to bring in any expert advisors the sub-committee may need.
City officials brought the suggestion of a misdemeanor holding facility to the county commissioners a couple months ago, asking if the county would be willing to administer the facility if the city helped fund it. Sheriff Mike Linder said at the time that he would like to give it a try.
Twito noted in his comments that law enforcement officers have become demoralized because so many of the individuals they arrest are released almost immediately because there is no space in the jail, and many of the perpetrators are repeat offenders who they find themselves arresting again and again.
Twito said that the sub-committee at their first meeting will set a time frame in which to complete their efforts and report back to the CJCC and ultimately the County Commissioners.
