The Broward County PSCC met this afternoon in the Public Defender's Office. The PSCC, a statutory body charged with assessing the jail population to ensure that capacities are not exceeded (951.26), has been given new teeth over the past year due to a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, the following:

1) The recent federally funded National Institute Of Corrections (NIC) audit. Broward, which has been under a federal consent decree (read fine$) for more than a decade due to perennial jail overcrowding, now is faced with a strong set of recommendations to reduce the jail cap, impacting every aspect of Broward's broken criminal justice system (federal recommendations are, of course, hard to ignore). Today the jail population is at roughly 90.5% capacity. The target is 85%.

2) The Budget Crisis. Quite simply, there is no money to build a new jail. Broward's traditional answer to jail overcrowding is no longer financially feasible. Additionally, the County Commission is mindful of the NIC finding that even if a new jail is built, it would be at near capacity the same day it opened, due to the nature of Broward's outmoded approach to criminal justice.

3) An incoming judicial administration willing to implement much needed reforms.

Here's a basic sketch of what's being considered by the new judicial administration and the PSCC:

-Giving Circuit judges jurisdiction over misdemeanor cases when a felony defendant (arraignment or VOP) appears before them with a pending misdemeanor, allowing the judge to resolve all of the defendant's cases at once, streamlining dockets and freeing space in the jail if the defendant is released or prison bound.

-Allowing defendants with technical VOPs (any violation without a new arrest) to appear in court via a NTA or punishment by written reprimand. Judge Tobin would ultimately decide what violations would qualify, whether monetary, dirty urine, or miscommunication with a PO, without a blanket policy of No Bond Holds on each and every case (certain violent offenders are precluded by statute from receiving an NTA on violations). This practice is already in effect in Palm Beach and other jurisdictions, and it seems to work well.

-A full time magistrates judge. Judge Tobin stated that he is firmly committed to a full time magistrate judge. The only question remaining is who will do it (any retired judges out there?), and where. There is a shortage of courtroom space, and Room 240 is currently used for cross-purposes. BSO has, I believe, offered to refurbish and provide the jail courtroom for this purpose, and I believe the State has been approached about giving up some of its extra space, so we'll see what happens. Obviously, a full time judge would eliminate the bottleneck of defendants for magistrates (no more cut off), and a uniform judicial approach to magistrates would likely mean less incarceration, as opposed to the current system of judges assigned for a week or the weekend, some of whom, as we all know, simply cover their behinds with ridiculous bonds across the board.

-Expanding Pretrial Services. The PSCC discussed applying some of the money previously earmarked for a new jail toward expanding Pretrial Services. Currently, an inmate costs BSO $91.29 a day, vs. $13.70 for GPS, $7.70 for EM, and $3.70 without a monitor. By expanding the service to divert 500 additional inmates per year for the next two years, Pretrial estimates that the jail would meet the target of 85% capacity (currently, 78% of offenders complete Pretrial without violations, and 96.5% appear for all court dates).

-The PSCC also supports hiring staff and consultants, who can, amongst other things, compile statistical databases and reports to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in the system (pursuant to its statutory directive). Currently, BSO, the Clerk’s Office, and the judiciary maintain or utilize separate tracking and data-mining systems with little or no communication. These efforts would be coordinated and enhanced in order to see exactly where the system is breaking down. As an example, the SAO’s case filings, conviction, and dismissal rates could be examined and analyzed (these records are maintained by the Clerk's Office and CCIS), together with the activities and productivity of individual judges and divisions (which could also help educate the public come election time), as well as easily identifying and aggregating every charge an inmate might be facing in order to streamline dockets (cases chosen for the two VOP blitzes were done by a manual review of the jail logs by case managers).

-The PSCC also intends to greatly expand its membership to include community members, a representative from the defense bar, a mental health professional, and additional law enforcement representatives, amongst others.

Lastly, Judge Gardiner reported that every judge is "110% committed to trying IC cases and cases on the list of inmates held in the jail over 750 days."  She also reported that great inroads had been made on the 750 day list, with many cases resolved or actively being tried over the last few months (in addition to Judge Lebow's "Haddad Docket").

That's about it.  Changes will continue to come, in addition to the great strides already made since last July, when the jail cap stood at over 700 additional inmates from July 2007.  Expect no announcements or changes until after September 4th, when Judge Tobin formally takes the reigns.  If you are interested, the PSCC will next meet October 11, 2007, at 3:00, in the Public Defender's Office.

Bill Gelin