Colorado Legislative Council Staff

Room 029 State Capitol, Denver, CO 80203-1784 (303) 866-3521 • FAX: 866-3855 •TDD: 866-3472 leg.colorado.gov/lcs E-mail: [email protected]

MEMORANDUM September 6, 2017

TO:

Members of the County Courthouse and County Jail Funding and Overcrowding Solutions Interim Study Committee

FROM:

Chris Creighton, Fiscal Analyst, 303-866-5834 Julia Jackson, Senior Research Analyst, 303-866-4788 Juliann Jenson, Research Analyst, 303-866-3264

SUBJECT:

Parole Violators in County Jail

Summary The following memorandum responds to questions asked by members of the County Courthouse and County Jail Funding and Overcrowding Solutions Interim Committee during its July 31, 2017 meeting. Specifically, this memorandum provides information from the Department of Corrections (DOC) on: • the number of parole violators jailed during FY 2016-17; • the average length of stay for jailed parole violators; • the eligibility of parole violators to be placed in the DOC; and • additional information related to inmates awaiting transfer from county jails to the DOC.

Parole Violators in County Jail According to DOC, in FY 2016-17, the total number of parole violators jailed in Colorado was 3,400. This number includes technical parole violators and parolees who have committed new crimes and are not eligible to be transferred to DOC. State law requires these parole violators to be held in county jail until proper action is taken to change their status. Technical parole violators cannot be sent to a DOC prison until their parole is revoked by the State Parole Board. Parolees who have committed a new crime are not eligible to be returned to DOC until all new criminal charges are adjudicated. Parolees with a jail hold are not eligible to be incarcerated in a state prison until the jail hold is removed. The sum of days spent in jail by all parole violators in FY 2016-17 was 295,375, with an average length of stay of 86.9 days. The average length of stay prior to being eligible for placement into DOC is 71.5 days. In order to be eligible for transfer to DOC, a new sentencing document must be received from the courts. Once the sentencing document is entered, the average length of stay is 15.4 days before being transferred to DOC.

Technical Parole Violators Technical parole violators are parolees who have failed to abide by the technical parole conditions established at the time of their release. Examples of violations include, but are not limited to, failure to report, failure to abide by a curfew, and drug or alcohol violations. In FY 2016-17, the total number of parole violators jailed for technical violations was 2,463. The sum of days spent in jail by technical parole violators in FY 2016-17 was 175,923, with an average length of stay of 71.4 days. Technical violators are still on "parole status" and not eligible for placement in the DOC until their parole is revoked by the parole board. This takes an average of 55.4 days. Once parole is revoked, technical parole violators are DOC-eligible, and the average length of stay in jail before being transferred to DOC is 16.0 days.

County Reimbursement for Holding Parolees Counties may be reimbursed for holding parolees under certain scenarios. Counties can be reimbursed for holding a parolee if a parole hold is in place and the parolee has a technical parole violation status. For technical parole violators who are returned to DOC after a parole board revocation hearing, counties may be reimbursed while the parole hold was in place, back to 72 hours after the date of initial arrest. For parolees awaiting new charges, counties may be reimbursed after the initial 72 hours until new charges are filed and the court orders a cash bond or orders the defendant to be held without bond. With some exceptions, once charges are filed and a bond status is determined, counties may not be reimbursed while the parolee is on criminal status. If the parolee has a parole hold and the criminal charges are dismissed, the parolee returns to technical parole violator status, a revocation hearing is held by the parole board, and jails are again reimbursed for the parolee until he or she is returned to DOC.

Additional Background Information There are approximately 10,000 county jail beds in Colorado, and less than 2 percent of all jail inmates are eligible and awaiting transfer to DOC. As of August 11, 2017, the number of inmates awaiting transfer to DOC was 190, with an average length of stay of 12.7 days. The DOC indicates that it works with individual county jails and sheriffs to move these inmates as soon as possible and other efforts are made to reduce the number of technical parole violators going into jails. This work includes working with inmates to address violations with intermediate sanctions in lieu of parole revocation, such as increasing therapy, withholding earned time, increasing supervision, and testing for drugs and alcohol.

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