County officials met Feb. 16 to discuss their plans for a pre-trial program.

Pre-trial services was included as part of the 2022 county public safety levy and during the budget process over the summer, officials estimated $400,000 for the program.

The pre-trial program is designed to keep low-level, low-risk offenders out of the Cascade County Adult Detention Center but releasing them with conditions that come with monitoring. It also includes reminders to offenders of court dates, to reduce the number of people accumulating failure to appear warrants that compound their fees and can land them back in jail.

County Commissioners met with Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter and County Attorney Josh Racki to discuss a draft request for proposals. Commissioners said they were okay with Slaughter and Racki polishing the document and releasing it to start getting proposals.

Racki said that if they get good proposals and commissioners approved one, it would take a few months to stand the program up. Slaughter said he hoped to have it ready by July 1.

Slaughter and Racki are proposing a two-year pilot of the program with an evaluation after the first year to make adjustments before committing to a long-term contract.

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Under their current proposal, they’re looking at a maximum of 350 participants, broken down by monitoring level with fewer in the group requiring more active supervision.

As proposed, the program is only available to those accused of new felony cases, other than those charged with sexual offenses, or deliberate or mitigated homicide. Those already on probation and parole will not be eligible for the program.

District court judges retain discretion as to whether to allow a defendant into the pre-trial program, but Slaughter and Racki said it creates more options for keeping people out of jail while awaiting trial when appropriate, leaving room for higher level offenders.

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Under the proposal, the county would use the Montana Supreme Court’s pretrial public safety assessment tool to determine the monitoring level.

The tool is essentially a risk assessment algorithm designed by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and being used by the Montana Supreme Court with a pretrial pilot program approved by the 2017 Legislature and continued by the 2019 Legislature.

The court enters information about someone who has been charged with a crime, felony or misdemeanor, and the algorithm determines their scores with a matrix that considers the public safety risk and needed pre-trial monitoring.

Racki and Slaughter said that they plan to brief the four local district court judges on the program and it’s limited capacity. They said since the judiciary doesn’t fund the program, the judges may want to expand it without monitoring costs, but the county will only be able to accept a certain number of participants and offer certain services at this point.

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The program would monitor court ordered items such as participation in substance abuse or mental health treatment programs, as well as court appearances. Failure to comply with those requirements will be reported to the court and county attorney’s office through the program and a defendant may lose their ability to participate in the program.

Racki said the proposed program is similar to one they proposed several years ago.

Slaughter and Racki are proposing one new county employee to help manage the program and submit the information to the risk assessment tool through the Montana Supreme Court, as well as conduct checks of whether a pre-trial participant has committed any crimes while on supervision. Racki and Slaughter said only a county employee can have access to those records systems.

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Racki said it will be a county run program and not a judicial program, a distinction that he expects will cause occasional tension between the entities.

Slaughter said they’ll essentially provide a menu of services and options to the judges, who can use them if they choose, but there could be a idea from a judge that works to add to the program.

He said at this point, there’s no mechanism for the pre-trial program to have high costs, but perhaps in the future, it might have more funding.

Commissioner Joe Briggs suggested they create an option for a defendant to pay for their own services if the program was full.

“We all want this to work,” Briggs said.

Racki said they could create such an option.

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Rack said that as of Feb. 16, there were 36 people in jail on bonds of $5,000 or less. He said most of those could get out of jail on the pre-trial program.

There were 60 people with bonds of $10,000 or less who could also likely qualify for the program.

He said many were in additional for failing to appear in court, an issue their trying to lessen with the program that includes texting defendants to remind them of court dates.

Racki and Slaughter said this program will not supply the cell phones for the text reminders.

Briggs said he anticipated some challenges on the program from the district court judges.

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“I’m sure they’ll make some strange arguments, but other option is pay to play, ‘how’s that working for you now,'” Slaughter said.

Racki said he also expects pushback from bail bondsmen who make their money off people posting bond, so when they don’t have to and get out of jail through the pre-trial program, they’ll lose money.

He said the county jail receives a lot of first time, low level offenders who might have only been dabbling in drugs. Once they get into the system and are sitting in jail working through the legal system, which takes time, or bonds out of jail but continues using drugs, so the problem gets worse and they might keep offending.

Racki said the pre-trial program would put a participant through a chemical dependency or mental health evaluation, then work to keep them clean through the pre-trial monitoring, and it might be easier to keep a person off drugs if it’s caught and treated earlier rather then attempting to address it later on.

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Slaughter said there are also a number of offenders on Medicaid. If they’re in jail for 30 days, they get dropped from their coverage. So, if they’re in the pre-trial program meeting their requirements, it frees up space in the jail, and they keep their Medicaid coverage, which also helps with county costs.

Racki said there are many crimes in the community related to mental health and through the pre-trial program, they can order treatment and monitor, which might help address some of the issues.

Slaughter said that pre-trial will dovetail with the new crisis response team locals are pursuing grant funds to develop, as well as an effort to get a grant for a crisis facility.

Racki said he and others in the legal system have monthly meeting on jail inmates with mental health concerns. Some get sent to Warm Springs, a state facility, but once they’re released, there’s no followup with them, he said, and problems often repeat themselves.

“There’s going to be a lot of growing pains,” Racki said, and they expect to find issues in the first year and adjust the program.

Briggs said it’s conceptually what they talked about years ago, and now, through the levy, they have the funds to implement the program.

“This has been a long time coming,” Briggs said.

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Slaughter said it was “anticipatory leadership” to get the program going before the Sentinel missile project since the community doesn’t have the appetite for a levy or bond for a bigger jail.

He said they’ll still have people in and out of jail with problems, but that if effective, pre-trial would lessen some of that, which will “be a win for us.”

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In January 2020, the county adopted the Montana Supreme Court public safety assessment tool in what they hope is a way to help reduce the county jail population.

That month, he told commissioners that jail overcrowding had been chronic for years and that the average daily population for the last two years had been 475.

In 2018, the overcrowding was a factor in a riot at the jail that involved more than 40 inmates.

Since then, the county exited a contract with the state, freeing up 150 beds for local inmates and adjusting their agreements with federal agencies to lessen overcrowding.