Fewer driver’s license suspensions, more mental health diversions among 18 ideas from jail task force

Some inmates have right to vote  Inmates

Saginaw County Sheriff Department Lt. David Kerns takes MLive reporters on a tour of the Saginaw County Jail on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. An inmate sleeps in their cell while Lt. Kerns speaks with MLive reporters on the other side of the room. Henry Taylor | MLive Henry Taylor/MLive.com Henry Taylor/MLive.comHenry Taylor/MLive.com

Michigan’s jails are getting more crowded, and many people currently serving time are either there too long or would be better served by an alternative to jail, a task force that’s been studying jail data in Michigan over the last several months has concluded.

The task force - created last year via an executive order from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer - was set up to analyze Michigan’s criminal justice system and submit proposals for legislative and administrative changes.

The group ultimately offered up 18 recommendations touching on several aspects of the criminal justice system, ranging from proposed decriminalization of low-level traffic offenses and reduction of license suspensions to a suggestion to require defendants get to trial within 18 months of their arrest.

Among the traffic-related recommendations was a suggestion to remove license suspension or revocation as a sentencing option for infractions other than offenses directly related to driving safety, like reckless driving or operating while intoxicated. The task force also recommended making many non-moving traffic misdemeanors and other misdemeanor charges that pose low threats to public safety a civil infraction instead.

Data included in the report shows driving without a valid license was the third-most common offense at jail admission among a representative sample of Michigan jails.

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, who co-chaired the task force with Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack, said many of traffic-related commendations stemmed from a desire to split a person’s need to drive from minor offenses, or offenses unrelated to driving.

“What this is trying to focus on is people having a driver’s license, being suspended for things that have nothing to do with how they were driving, and whether they were in danger as a driver,” he said. “This recommendation is about limiting that or ending that practice.”

Another topic featured heavily in the report was how people with mental and behavioral health needs should be handled in the justice system - data collected by Wayne State University’s Center for Behavioral Health and Justice estimates that 23 percent of people entering jails in Michigan had a serious mental illness, with that rate going up to 34 percent in rural jails.

McCormack said mental health issues came up over and over again during the group’s meetings throughout the last several months, especially among law enforcement officials.

“Making our police officers and our sheriffs and our deputy sheriffs our de facto mental health workers in our state isn’t fair to the sheriff’s it’s not fair to the police officers and it’s not fair to the people who are mentally ill,” McCormack said.

Among the recommendations for addressing mental health issues were suggestions that law enforcement agencies be given additional funding to create or expand existing diversion and deflection programs for the mentally ill, as well as implementation of a standardized mental health screening tool upon intake.

Other recommendations included in the report include:

  • Reforming the state’s bail system to favor personal recognizance bonds over cash bonds
  • Requiring courts to determine a person’s ability to pay fines and fees at sentencing, and requiring those unable to afford a civil fine be offered an alternative like community service
  • Reducing the use of bench warrants for failure to appear in court or failure to pay court fines, fees or child support
  • Requiring an arraignment within 24 hours of arrest and providing a due process hearing for all defendants who are still detained 48 hours after arraignment
  • Limiting the use of pretrial release conditions like drug testing, in-person reporting or electronic monitoring
  • Reducing the number of people sentenced with jail time for most misdemeanors and certain felonies
  • Update the state’s probation policies to focus on the first weeks and months of supervised release, and setting parameters around what factors could prompt revocation of probation
  • Spending more on support services for crime victims and additional law enforcement training on best practices for responding to domestic violence calls and interviewing victims
  • Requiring additional data collection on arrests and sentencing from local and state law enforcement agencies

The rollout of the recommendations was somewhat unorthodox - task force members met last Thursday and voted to finalize their report, but its contents wasn’t released to the public until Tuesday. A court spokesperson cited scheduling issues as the primary reason for the delay.

At that meeting, some task force members said they felt the report didn’t go far enough, and Attorney General Dana Nessel abstained from the final vote, in part due to concerns that the committee hadn’t adequately achieved a “crucial balance” between offenders and crime victims.

“We can never lose sight of the impact that a crime has on the victim, and while we must strive for bold reform, those reforms cannot be at the expense of the individuals the system was designed to protect,” Nessel said last week.

The task force report recommends “significant funding” to expand support services for crime victims, as well as additional training for law enforcement on serving personal protection orders and responding to domestic violence, but didn’t put a number on how much that might cost.

During a Tuesday press conference, House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, said criminal justice reforms were a top priority headed into the next budget cycle, noting a specific value for many of the funding recommendations would have to be hashed out in the appropriations process.

“The bottom line is, you fund whatever your priorities are, and criminal justice is a priority,” he said.

Read the task force’s full report here.

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