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Fast-track approach helps lower inmate count
Published August 18, 2009
In recent years, the inmate population at the Kerr County jail — which has 192 beds — has averaged 170 a day, but no longer.
Recent steps to lower that number have proven successful, according to Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer.
As a result, the county now is in a position to make money by housing inmates from Gillespie County, netting roughly $350,000 a year.
Lowering the local inmate population provides the county with another benefit — delaying the need for a jail expansion.
Hierholzer credited county officials and members of the local courts system for working together to streamline the judicial process, making it quicker and more efficient.
Technically, he said, two new systems speed up the process.
In the first, people booked into the county jail are “fast-tracked” through the system.
They meet with a defense attorney and decide whether they want to enter a plea. Those who do then finalize the details with an assistant district attorney, who now routinely visits the jail.
By enabling people to enter a plea at the county jail, they can reduce the amount of time it takes to get through the legal process.
“We’re not cutting deals and letting them back out on the streets,” the sheriff said, adding the process simply has become more efficient.
He also pointed out no one is forced to participate.
Direct file
A second method being used is referred to as “direct file.”
In the past, people who couldn’t make bond waited several months behind bars before their case was heard by a grand jury.
At times, their stay was made lengthier because the district attorney’s office was awaiting lab results or other information pertinent to the case. There have even been instances where clerical oversight has led to longer stays.
Nowadays, however, they are magistrated by a judge within a day or two, assigned a cause number and placed on a court docket, even if the DA has not accepted the case.
“That way, they don’t fall through the cracks,” the sheriff said. “It speeds up the process.”
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