By James Loewenstein
The Daily Review
TOWANDA, Pa. — Enrollment continues to grow in Bradford County’s recently established supervised bail program, an initiative intended to reduce the overcrowding at the Bradford County jail.
At this month’s meeting of the Bradford County Prison Board, Bradford County jail Warden Donald Stewart reported that there are 32 defendants and other individuals enrolled in the supervised bail program, which is designed to increase the number of defendants who are out on bail.
If those 32 individuals were instead held inside the Bradford County jail, the jail would be “borderline overcrowded,” Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko said.
Enrollment in the supervised bail program “has been jumping up each week” recently, which is a good thing, Stewart said.
The program’s bail release officers now have their own radios and a car, and the program is now “fully operational,” he said. The supervised bail program, which was initiated in September, “seems to be going really well,” he said.
All four of the county’s magisterial district judges, as well as Bradford County Court Judge Maureen Beirne, are making use of the program, he said.
There is room for up to 40 individuals in the supervised bail program.
At this month’s Prison Board meeting, Stewart reported that there are 149 inmates housed at the Bradford County jail, and another 11 Bradford County inmates housed temporarily at other facilities for various reasons, such as the need to undergo a medical evaluation or attend a court proceeding outside the county. However, the county is not paying to house the 11 inmates at the other facilities, he said.
The planning to create the supervised bail program occurred at a time when the county was paying to house some of its inmates in other county jails.
Due to overcrowding at the Bradford County jail, the county had to pay to house inmates at other county jails during most of 2013. Currently, Bradford County is not currently paying to house any inmates in other facilities, Stewart said.
The Bradford County jail has the capacity to house 207 inmates.
In some cases, defendants who cannot afford to post their bail are given the option of entering the supervised bail program, which allows them to live at home while their case makes its way through the courts. While living at home, these defendants are supervised by county bail release officers, and they must abide by certain conditions, which could include having to report to the jail a certain number of times a week or being placed on electronic monitoring, Stewart has said.
In other cases, judges choose to give defendants the option of participating in the supervised bail program because they would rather see them supervised, rather than unsupervised, when they are out on bail, Stewart said.
Many of the defendants in the supervised bail program are non-violent, Bradford County officials have said. However, there could be defendants in the program who are accused of having committed less-serious violent crimes, Warden Stewart has said.
Bradford County Commissioner Daryl Miller has noted that all defendants in Bradford County’s supervised bail program are eligible to be released into the community anyway, as long as they can post their bail.
Defendants who enter the supervised bail program do so voluntarily, as an alternative to posting bail or paying a bail bondsman to post their bail.
The level of supervision that a particular defendant receives while in Bradford County’s supervised bail program is tailored to the defendant, Stewart has said.
For example, defendants who are considered a relatively low risk - in terms of being a flight risk or a risk to commit another crime - have to report to the jail a certain number of times a week, have to undergo drug and alcohol testing if ordered to do so by a judge, and if they are working, must turn in proof to the county that they are continuing to hold the job, he said.
Defendants in the program who are considered more of a risk are placed under the same type of supervision as offenders who are on probation or parole, which is a more intensive type of supervision, he said. Bail release officers would check on these higher-risk defendants at their homes and work places, and they could also be placed on electronic monitoring, the warden said. These higher-risk defendants might also have to undergo drug and alcohol testing, he said.
Defendants are not the only ones who are enrolled in the supervised bail program.
Bradford County Court Judge Maureen Beirne has said that she recently began sentencing some individuals who are in arrears on their court-ordered child support payments to the supervised bail program, instead of sentencing them to jail.
Beirne said she has also sentenced individuals to the supervised bail program whom she has found to be in contempt of a court order that required them to look for work so that they could pay their child support.
A defendant’s participation in the supervised bail program must be approved by a judge, the bail release officers, mental health staff at the jail and the warden, Stewart has said.
Staff at the jail, including the warden, must also approve the participation of individuals in the program who are sentenced to it by a judge for non-payment of court-ordered child support or for contempt of a court order requiring him or her to look for work, Stewart has said.
Bradford County’s supervised bail program “has been working very well,” Miller said.
Work program
The Prison Board this month approved a request by the Animal Care Sanctuary in East Smithfield to use inmates to work at the facility through Bradford County’s Community Workforce Inmate Program. The Animal Care Sanctuary is a non-profit organization, and non-profit organizations are eligible to participate in the Community Workforce Inmate Program, Stewart said.
Under the Community Workforce Inmate Program (CWIP), non-violent inmates, who are supervised by a corrections officer, do community service projects free of charge for community groups, charitable organizations and local governments.
“We usually try to have three inmates” at a time working on a CWIP community service project, Stewart said.
The community service project at the Animal Care Sanctuary, which will last a week, will involve painting and re-staining of some decks, he said.