DALLAS — As the Dallas County jail inches toward capacity, officials have focused on addressing those who have been arrested on felony charges that have not been filed, which is about 15% of the jail population.
As of Dec. 22, the county reported 872 inmates of the 5,887 total inmate population did not have felonies filed yet.
County officials say they want to avoid state intervention and the huge costs of an overcrowded jail and plan to discuss potential relief measures for the criminal justice process next month. The county jail has surpassed 88% of its capacity this year. District Attorney John Creuzot said the state usually intervenes before a jail reaches total capacity.
“I have seen in the past where the population has ballooned to that point, and it’s never good,” Creuzot said. “At some point, that becomes unsustainable.”
Commissioner John Wiley Price said a 2019 change in policy on when inmates are released if charges aren’t filed is contributing to the growing jail population. Previously, inmates would be released after 30 days if felony charges were not filed.
Currently, once a person is arrested and brought to jail, they go before a magistrate for the grounds of their arrest and bail setting. If the person cannot afford bail, they will sit in jail until the case is resolved through dismissal, plea or trial. A preliminary step in case resolution is the indictment — where a grand jury determines whether there is probable cause the alleged offense occurred.
County wait times
State law gives prosecutors 90 days to get a case ready for indictment. Those held in jail beyond 90 days without a grand jury trial must be released on reduced bail or a personal recognizance bond.
To ensure Dallas County meets state standards, Creuzot said his office implemented a policy that law enforcement agencies provide a case to prosecutors within 30 days. Then, his office can use the remaining 60 days to piece together whether there is an argument and schedule a grand jury as needed.
Creuzot said there have been a few times when a person waits more than 90 days for an indictment, if the defendant’s attorney isn’t aware.
Inmates wait an average of 27 days before felony charges are filed, according to county data. One inmate costs the county an average of $66 a day — or $1,782 for 27 days.
Price and county staff told The Dallas Morning News that the county does not keep data on how many people were booked into jail, waited in jail and had their case dismissed at the grand jury. He said entire lives can be upended while someone waits in jail for 27 days.
“That’s the reason it’s just an imperative to do something on the front end,” Price said.
But, the district attorney said the total number of inmates without felonies filed is more complicated than it seems, based on his office’s findings. Some of these 872 inmates without filed felony charges have other pending cases, parole holds or other outstanding concerns, he said.
“They’re probably not going to get a bond. If they’ve got two or three other pending cases and they have one case that has not been filed — well, they didn’t make bond on those other two cases — then that’s not really what’s keeping them in jail,” Creuzot said.
Roughly a third of the total number of inmates without filed charges has just a single case, the DA office’s analysis found.
For decades, Dallas County had a felony “dry writ.” If prosecutors did not accept a case within a time frame, the inmate — held for up to 30 days depending on the felony charge — was automatically released. This practice was abandoned in the fall of 2019 when judges argued that they were not policymakers in the Daves v. Dallas County bail lawsuit. Reform groups sued the county in 2018 over its bail schedule, a list of offenses and corresponding recommended bail amounts.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards could get involved if it nears too close to capacity.
“There’s a lot of things you lose control over in the jail, like sanitation, behavior etc., when you get that many people in,” Creuzot said. “And, of course, the cost to the taxpayers is enormous.”
If the jail becomes overcrowded, the county could have to fork out millions of dollars to contract with other jails to hold its inmates. Price said he wants to avoid such an outcome as much as possible.
In August, Tarrant County commissioners approved a contract of up to $18 million to send its prisoners to Garza County, outside of Lubbock. The Tarrant County Jail reported that it can safely handle up to 3,700 prisoners, but capacity reached 4,500.
As of Dec. 22, Tarrant County reports 210 inmates in Garza County. Tarrant County’s Criminal Courts Administrator Greg Shugart told The News that the pretrial population is currently lower than it was on the same day in 2019, before the pandemic.
Potential solutions
Dallas County commissioners, district judges and others in county criminal justice are expected to meet in mid-January to discuss potential changes to the criminal justice process. Dallas County has been at odds nearly all year over the growing active and pending felony case backlog, swelling jail population and assertions that judges were not working enough. The News’ analysis showed that the judges have disposed of more cases this year than in recent years.
The judges sent a seven-point letter of recommendations to the commissioners, most points of which commissioners appear to support.
The letter recommends having attorneys at initial magistration. Price said he hopes that criminal justice officials can work together to get the district attorney’s office involved in the case at the time an inmate is booked into jail.
Price, who tends to be cost-conscious on the dais, said he would be willing to pay overtime to have the DA’s office at magistration.
“They will decide then whether or not they have a case,” Price said. “And that individual doesn’t tie up a bed, and we don’t tie up resources.”
The district attorney said he would need more information before supporting such a change. He questions if there are enough lawyers to staff the jail all day. Creuzot also said detectives often don’t have all the needed evidence for the case available at booking and said talking to witnesses and organizing digital evidence for prosecution takes time.
To reduce the jail population, Creuzot would like to see more proactive measures such as intervention and alternative programs to incarceration. He referred to Harris County’s drug and mental health diversion programs as ideal. Dallas County’s Divert Court Program focuses only on first-time offenders.
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