Not arresting low-level offenders is having alarming consequences
Combined with a court backlog, offenders are becoming bold, telling police, 'go ahead, we both know you're not taking me to jail'
Marathon County officials found themselves in a conundrum as the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic found their way to Central Wisconsin. Jail inmates couldn’t exactly socially distance, right? To say nothing of jail staff, who work in the facility everyday dutifully, pandemic or no. An overcrowded jail doesn’t exactly help county officials keep inmates or staff safe.
What if they simply took fewer people to jail? County officials asked themselves that very question. It’s not as radical as it sounds. Instead of jail being the assumed destination for those accused of low-level crimes, just issue them a summons instead. Since they would likely be let out of jail on bond once they’ve seen the judge anyway (and possibly after they were finally appointed a public defender, which a Wausonian investigation found could sometimes take literally months), it makes some sense.
It worked. The jail population fell. A lot. In fact, there were so few inmates in jail that the county sharply reduced the money on housing inmates in other counties, so much that the county administrator reallocated some of that money to other areas of the county’s 2021 budget. All that talk of an expensive new jail seemed out the window.
Problem solved? Not so fast, some say.
Deputy Chief Matt Barnes told the city’s public safety committee the policy is having an unintended affect: low-level offenders are realizing that they won’t be taken to jail for crimes such as disorderly conduct. “It’s become the running joke,” Barnes told the public safety committee. Officers are frustrated, saying they’re being told comments such as “Just write me the summons, we both know you’re not going to take me to jail,” Barnes told The Wausonian.
Meanwhile, the court backlog is as bad as ever. County police authorities tell The Wausonian that the backlog is a continual source of discussion and concern in the county.
So what’s going on here? The Wausonian decided to look deeper into the issue.
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