STUDY OF MAINE’S PRETRIAL
CASE PROCESSING
Corrections Alternatives Advisory Committee
Presented by: Marie VanNostrand, Ph.D.
May 25, 2006
Corrections Alternatives
Advisory Committee
The Corrections Alternatives Advisory
Committee was created by the Maine
Legislature in Spring 2005 to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of the State’s
corrections system and to better manage
costs
Corrections Alternatives
Advisory Committee
Interim Report to the Maine Legislature –
CAAC made several recommendations, one
of which was to
“reduce the average length of pretrial
defendant’s stay within jail.”
Based on a key finding:
Pretrial defendant’s average length of stay
along with probation revocations are driving
costs and the use of jail bed space
Pretrial Study
CAAC commissioned a study of pretrial case
processing in Maine
Interest in study precipitated by need to better
understand:
• Composition of pretrial jail population
• Significant average duration of pretrial
stays in jail (est. by DOC at 65 days)
• Availability of pretrial services
Pretrial Study Goals
Goals of the Study are to identify:
– strategies to appropriately manage defendant
risk and needs
– opportunities for improvement in system
efficiency at the state & local levels
– opportunities for improvement in system
effectiveness at the state & local levels
– strategies to enhance state and county
coordination
Study Introduction
• Comprehensive study of all 16 Counties
examining the following:
– the way local criminal justice systems currently process cases
pending trial
– how the risk & needs of pretrial defendants are determined
– how bail decisions are made
– the resources available to manage pretrial risk and needs
• Complete data analysis of the populations for
five County jails:
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Aroostook
Cumberland
Kennebec
Penobscot
York
Study Timeline
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The project began on April 3, 2006 and is
scheduled for completion on or about
September 15, 2006
Project Staff
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CAAC Pretrial Study Project Teams
Cheryl Gallant, Onsite Project Manager
Luminosity Consultants
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Marie VanNostrand, Ph.D.
Patrick Jablonski, Ph.D.
Gena Keebler
Brian Kays
Partnership with the National Institute of
Corrections (NIC)
Pretrial Study Project Teams
CAAC Pretrial Study Project Team
Mary Ashton, NIC
Harold Doughty, MDOC
Hartwell Dowling, Judiciary
Neale Duffett, Defense Attorney
Evert Fowle, District Attorney
Cheryl Gallant, Cheryl A. Gallant, Inc
Denise Lord, MDOC
Robert Mullen, Maine District Court Judge
Pat Murtagh, Volunteers of America
Glenn Ross, Penobscot County Sheriff
Mark Rubin, Muskie School of Public Service
Elizabeth Simoni, Maine Pretrial Services
Michael Vitiello, York County Jail Administrator
Marie VanNostrand, Luminosity, Inc
Pretrial Study Project Teams
5 County Analysis Project Team
James Foss, Aroostook County
David Lambert, York County
Angela Berube, Cumberland County
Michael Vitiello, York County
John Joy, Cumberland County
Hartwell Dowling, Judiciary
Larry LaPointe, Cumberland County
Evert Fowle, District Attorney
Glenn Ross, Penobscot County
Mark Rubin, Muskie School
Linda Golden, Penobscot County
Elizabeth Simoni, Maine Pretrial Serv.
Keith Hotaling, Penobscot County
Mary Ashton, NIC
Everett Flannery, Kennebec County
Cheryl Gallant, Cheryl A. Gallant, Inc
Randall Liberty, Kennebec County
Marie VanNostrand, Luminosity, Inc
Richard Wurpel, Kennebec County
Patrick Jablonski, Luminosity, Inc
Implementation Strategy
Stakeholders
Important to actively engage stakeholders:
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Letters outlining study
Informational e-mails
News releases
Invitation to attend CAAC meetings
Distribution of project team materials
Presentation at stakeholder group forums
Solicit input regarding study findings and
recommendations made to CAAC
Publicize study findings (e.g., annual association
meetings)
Implementation Strategy
Case Processing
Research each County criminal justice
system:
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county population profile
crime and arrest rates
law enforcement agencies
district and superior court structure,
locations, and case filings
jail location, capacity, daily population
pretrial, probation, and specialty courts &
programs
Implementation Strategy
Case Processing
Conduct onsite visits for each County
to observe system operations
including:
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Jail booking and intake
Initial appearance in Court
Arraignments
Bail hearings
Implementation Strategy
Case Processing
Conduct interviews with key critical
stakeholders including:
• law enforcement
• sheriff’s department
• jail booking/intake and
classification staff
• bail commissioners
• district attorney’s office
• lawyer of the day
• district court judge &
clerk
• superior court justice &
clerk
• financial screeners
• Victim witness advocate
• pretrial services
• specialty courts – adult
drug treatment, domestic
violence, divert offenders
to treatment, cooccurring disorder
• probation
Implementation Strategy
5-County Data Analysis
Complete data analysis of the populations
for five County jails:
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Aroostook
Cumberland
Kennebec
Penobscot
York
Implementation Strategy
5-County Data Analysis
Complete data analysis of the populations
for five County jails
– develop pretrial population profiles
– develop locally sentenced population
profiles
– identify pretrial risks and needs
– determine the pretrial average length of
stay
– determine the portion of the population that
have probation violations
Project Status
• 8 weeks into a 24 week study
• 7 of 16 Counties have been examined
• Beginning process of collecting and
analyzing jail population data
• Preliminary identification of significant
areas of improvement in efficiency and
effectiveness
• Next briefing scheduled for July
Study Activities
• On-site visits completed as planned in the
following Counties:
– Cumberland
– Androscoggin
– Sagadahoc
– Lincoln
– York
– Oxford
– Currently on-site in Kennebec
Study Activities
Conducted interviews with over 100
key critical stakeholders
• law enforcement
• sheriff’s department
• jail booking/intake and
classification staff
• bail commissioners
• district attorney’s office
• lawyer of the day
• district court judge &
clerk
• superior court justice &
clerk
• financial screeners
• Victim witness advocate
• pretrial services
• specialty courts – adult
drug treatment, domestic
violence, divert offenders
to treatment, cooccurring disorder
• probation
Study Activities
Toured the Two Bridges Regional Jail
Have you ever seen someone so happy to be at a jail construction site?
Study Activities
Began working with the 5 Counties to
examine the availability of desired data
to complete the data analysis
Study Activities
Have NOT seen a moose!
Study Challenges
• Data availability is limited in a number of
areas, including two critical areas
– Criminal History
• History of FTA
• History of Violence
• General adult history
– Bail Information
• Not automated
Early Observations
• Maine’s criminal justice system has a
number of particularly efficient, effective,
and impressive characteristics
– Lawyer of the day
– Video arraignment
– Regional jail
– Specialty courts
– Regional CJ automated systems
– Warrant repositories
– Justices/Judges ability to ‘sit’ for each other
Early Observations
• Accessibility of Criminal Histories are
rarely or selectively comprehensive at
pretrial stage
– Local vs. SBI & III/NCIC
• Rarely available to Bail Commissioners
• Sometimes available to ADA for initial appearance
(practices vary greatly from County to County)
• Judge and LOD rely on ADA for CH
• Pretrial services does not have access to CH
Early Observations
• Initial assessment of pretrial risk
– Most cases completed by Bail Commissioner
– ID rarely confirmed through fingerprints
– Limited criminal history available (local)
– Self-reported limited information: community
ties, residence, employment
– Rarely substance use, mental or physical
health information
– Information relayed by phone by corrections
or police officer
Early Observations
• Initial assessment of pretrial risk by
Bail Commissioners
– Rarely any legal background
– 8 hours of training during first year of
appointment
– Provided limited information to set bail
– Fee for service
– No formal identification
– Excessive conditions of bail
Early Observations
• Availability of Pretrial Services
– Four counties have no pretrial services
– All counties visited report pretrial services to
be severely understaffed and under funded
– Judges using Police Departments to provide
pretrial supervision due to under funded
services
– Under funded pretrial services results in –
• Fewer releases pretrial
• Longer detention pretrial
Emerging Issues
• Potential Sources of Jail Crowding
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Bail Commissioner practices
Insufficient or no pretrial services
Delay in Ct. appointed attorneys
Mandatory fines (indigent)
Probation violations (authority, practices, time to
disposition)
– Court date timeframe
– Lack of alternative misdemeanor sentences (jail in
lieu of alternative and misuse of pretrial services)