Jail Stays For Inmates Decreases For 1st Time Since ’99
EL PASO COUNTY – For the first time since 1999, the average length of stay has dropped at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center. The average length of stay is likely the most significant factor to the jail population and subsequent crowding issues.
In 1999, we saw a decrease in average length of stay to 14.94 days from 16.84 days in 1998. Over the ten year period from 1999 to 2009 there was a constant growth in the ALS and therefore an increase in the jail population. In 2008, the ALS had increased to 24.05 days and in 2009 had dropped to 22.22 days. The decrease can be equated to 70 beds available per day of change in the average length of stay. As an example of the impact to the inmate population, one year ago today (January 20, 2009) was 1356 inmates; today the Criminal Justice Center population was 1200.
Sheriff Maketa said, “This is a huge show of success and change in what was a growing problem in the jail and for the community.” Sheriff Maketa attributes the decrease to several factors. A primary contributor is the newly introduced Reintegration and Recovery Program (R&R) which began in 2007. The R&R program is designed for sentenced inmates to participate in an intensive program teaching life skills and providing classes, some of which are required by the court as part of their sentence. The program is targeted at those individuals who are likely to re-offend and teach them how to avoid the cycle and change habits to avoid returning to custody. Additionally, the involvement of the Sheriff’s Office with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) and the associated 287G program. This program allows deputies who have been trained through ICE to act under federal authority to start the investigation of illegal immigrants and speed up the deportation process. This allows those detainees to move out of the facility faster and therefore decrease the inmates in that population category. After approximately two and a half years, the results from programs like these are starting to show results as in the decrease in daily population and more importantly the decrease in the average length of stay.
