Presentations

The Washington Rural Jails Project: Lessons from Rural Places and People

Jennifer Sherman & Jennifer Schwartz

Washington State University

Research Supported by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the Vera Institute of Justice, and Arnold Ventures

Introduction: The Washington Rural Jails Project History

• Begun in summer 2019 in answer to grant call for proposals to
  study the rise in rural jail incarceration nationwide.
• Rural jail incarceration rates were 2.4x higher than urban jails.
• Team of Jennifer Sherman and Jennifer Schwartz brings different substantive expertise as well as methodological skills.
• Designed project that combined statistical analysis of jail
  booking/release data + in-depth interviews and focus groups.
• Reached out to sheriff’s departments across rural Eastern/Central
  Washington.
• Traveled across region to meet them in person at jails, WASPC, etc.
  and make in-person connections.
• Network Partners
  • East Asotin, Whitman
  • North Ferry, Okanogan
  • Central Grant, Kittitas
• County Jail Capacity
  • Asotin 46
  • Colville 36
  • Ferry 45
  • Grant 185
  • Kittitas 209
  • Okanogan 185
  • Whitman 40
  • TOTAL 746
• Collaboration with Rural Jails
• Data use agreements with five sheriff’s departments
  • Provided jail booking and release records for five previous years
• Six participated in virtual meetings
• Learned from each other and own data
  • Shared challenges related to rurality
  • Highlighted what was happening in jails and communities
• Analyzed >55,000 records
• Interviewed 71 people who spent time in one or more of
  network jails
• Systematically compiled information from conversations and
  meetings with system actors
• Toured jails in network
• Sharing Information
  • Presented findings to state audiences:
    • Office of Public Defenders
    • Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) task force
    • WA State Attorney General’s Jail Standards Task Force
    • Office of Forensic Mental Health Services (DSHS) / JTA
  • Presented to Academic Audiences:
    • Deason Center
    • American Society of Criminology
    • Law and Society Association
    • Rural Sociological Society
• Research Findings: SNPs
  • Quantitative findings showed importance of System Navigation
  • Problems (SNPs) including FTA, inability to pay fines, noncompliance with court orders, DWLS
    • Over 40% of jail admissions due to SNPs during 2015-2019
    • Used 247,949 bed days (34%); drugs used 65,842 (9%); assault used 59,573
      (8%)
    • More than half of jail re-entries were due to SNPs
      • See: https://labs.wsu.edu/wrjn/washington-state-jail-trends/
• Research Findings: FTA Issues
  • Qualitative findings showed why people struggled to get to
    court:
    • Court notices sent to old address (moved, homeless, etc.)
    • Transportation difficulties (suspended license, no vehicle)
    • Communication failures regarding court dates (continuances, lack
      of communication with public defenders)
    • Mental health struggles
• Collaboration with Rural Jails
  • Provided data reports to sheriff’s offices and jail staff, and stakeholders
  • Held stakeholder meetings in each county that included jail
    staff, legal system actors, social service and healthcare
    providers to identify issues and promote change
  • Learned about challenges jails faced
    • Population with drug/alcohol and mental health issues
    • Lack of medical staff and capacity
    • Lack of ability to implement MOUD
    • Lack of knowledge/time to successfully apply for grant funding
• Learning from Local Actors
  • Reached out to those who work with jail-exposed populations, including social services, health, mental health, and victim’s support
    • How do communities support people after jail?
    • What challenges do they face?
    • Discovered communication gaps between jail staff and local
      service actors
  • Gaps in service provision:
    • Lack of post-release support, need for outreach prior to release
    • Desire for more opportunities for warm handoffs
    • Need for improved communication between actors
  • Lack of resources, need to share across services/sectors
    • Staffing shortages in all areas
    • Lack of local housing, high housing costs, remoteness, low salaries
  • Need for communication and cooperation across sectors inspired next phase of project, where we facilitate stakeholder meetings focused on identifying needs and collaborative solutions
  • Stakeholder group meetings held in all six counties
  • Identified common challenges:
    • Housing services
    • Employment and job training
    • Public defense and aid navigating the system
    • Anger management and family counseling
    • Mental health care
    • Sober living and recovery
    • Training in talking about CL experiences to prospective landlords and employers
• Stigma around low-income and post-release housing makes it hard to site in rural communities
• Need for education and outreach around social problems
  intertwined with CL involvement
• Structural lacks challenge people getting to court:
  • Lack of transportation
  • Lack of reliable internet service
  • Lack of court notification services
  • Lack of post-release support
• Strengths of Rural Community Coalitions
  • Deep commitment to communities
  • Longstanding personal connections
    • High trust
    • Streamlined communication
    • Possibility of efficiencies
  • Fewer gatekeepers and less bureaucracy for new community
    members
  • Need dedicated time focused on brainstorming new ideas and
    connections
  • Creativity in solving local problems, sharing space, people, and resources
  • Single individuals can make big change
  • Efficacy of local leadership
  • Ability to collaborate for “small wins” and to make incremental changes toward addressing problems
• “Small Wins”
  • Agreement to update online jail rosters more frequently
  • Plan to use social media and community groups to highlight success stories of those who had been in jail and recovered from addiction
  • Agreement to provide office space for traveling clinician
  • Sharing information to prevent FTA warrants issued in other counties when someone was incarcerated
  • Adding local social services information to jail-issued tablets
  • Developing guide for post-release steps and services
  • Circulating information on second-chance employers to local
    organizations
  • Offering focused services to jail “frequent fliers”
• Strengths and Potential of RNP
  • Recovery Navigator Program (RNP) provides peers trained in addiction recovery and social services to offer support to those in or recently out of jail
  • Help connect them with treatment, housing, support, and other needs (clothes, food, etc.)
  • Provide understanding and inspiration
  • Recovery Navigators have made huge differences in many communities
  • Can make connections while people are in jail and intervention is most useful
  • Provide transportation to treatment, including peer conversation during rides
  • Help people make court dates
  • Need for more navigation help, for those without addiction issues but may face other challenges
• Strengths of RNP
  • “Well, [the Recovery Navigator] was [visiting me in jail] and she — you know, she talked to me a little bit… So the day I got out of jail, she was going to help me get a ride or whatever and try — I was worried about coming back home to a house full of drug addicts. You know? But instead, when I got out of jail, instead of walking anywhere else, I walked to [her office]. Which may not seem like that big of a deal, but I could easily have made a left and walked to the drug dealer’s house who is right down the road too. But instead, I walked straight into [the office] and I talked to them. And I was like, well, fuck it, I’ll go to inpatient today right now. And she took me at my word. And the next thing you know, she was on the phone and found a place that took my insurance, and she drove me to [the city 3 hours away] that day.” (Ezrah Cooper, 41-year-old white man)
• Conclusion: Future Directions
  • Expanding Network into additional rural communities in Eastern/Central Washington
  • Adding tribal jails and communities into the Network
  • Focusing on under-recognized social problems that drive jail
    admissions, including Domestic Violence
  • Working with stakeholder groups to sustain coalitions
  • Learning more about:
    • Trends in rural jail populations
    • Impacts of programs like RNP
    • Effectiveness of new policies and initiatives at state and/or county levels
• Thank you!!!
  • For more information, visit the project website: https://labs.wsu.edu/wrjn/
• Huge thanks to the WRJN Team: Rebecca Castner, Ph.D.; Clay Mosher, Ph.D.; Wendy Alcantar; Marisa Cervantes, Ph.D.; Emma Deneau, M.A.; Christian Maynard, M.A.; Megan Parks, M.A.; Sydney Silva; Michelle Weston, M.A.; Sandra Yokley, M.A.
• Photo credits: Jennifer Sherman, J. Michael Short, and Jeffrey Hicke

Assessing the Association between Drug Decriminalization and Jail Admissions in Washington State, 2020-2022

Christian P Maynard, M.A. and Jennifer Schwartz, PhD

Washington State University

Research supported by the National Institute of Justice (Advancing Research on Rural Justice Systems, Award # 15PNIJ-21-GG-02805-RESS)

Introduction

• US drug policy has evolved significantly, with states and cities shifting from the war on drugs to decriminalization, and regulation of certain drugs like cannabis and psilocybin mushrooms.
• In February 2021, the Washington State Supreme Court declared the state’s longstanding drug possession statute unconstitutional, leading to several months when small quantities of drugs were decriminalized.
• Later, drug possession was recriminalized as a misdemeanor (July 2021), gross misdemeanor (July 2023).
• We examined incarceration length, racial disparities, and urban-rural differences before and after decriminalization.
• We contribute evidence-based insights on drug policy reform.

Research Question

What is the effect of drug decriminalization on jail
admissions in Washington State?
Hypotheses:

• Post-decriminalization, fewer individuals are booked pretrial.
• Post-decriminalization, individuals stay fewer days.
• Black and Native American individuals experience longer incarceration stays than white individuals.
• Compared to urban areas, in rural areas, individuals experience longer incarceration stays.

Methodology

Results

• Pre-decriminalization, 9% of total jail bookings were for drug possession.
• Post-decriminalization, there was a substantial drop in jail bookings for drug possession, making up just 1 percent of the total.
• Post-decriminalization, the sex composition of jail admissions changed little.

Length of Pretrial Incarceration

• Post-decriminalization: Average pretrial length of stay reduced by one day.
• Race, metro status, and gender were more strongly associated with pretrial incarceration length than the legal status of drugs.

Race Based Outcomes

• Post-decriminalization, the proportion of white individuals booked into jail decreased, while the proportion of Black and Native American individuals increased.
• Following decriminalization, there was a reduction in average number of days incarcerated for all racial groups, less so for whites.

Rural and Urban Counties

• Overall trends in pretrial jail admissions for drug possession were similar across rural and urban counties during the study period.
• However, despite the parallel trends in admission rates, rural counties saw individuals being incarcerated for longer periods pretrial compared to urban counties, a gap that widened after decriminalization.

Discussion

• The Washington State Supreme Court’s Blake Decision, along with subsequent legislative responses, reflects evolving drug regulations in the U.S.
• Post-decriminalization, monthly bookings for drug possession dropped by 76%.
• Despite fewer bookings, the average length of pretrial incarceration changed minimally.
• Before decriminalization, Black and Native American individuals experienced longer pretrial incarceration compared to whites; this disparity reduced after decriminalization.
• Post-decriminalization, the length of stay for pretrial incarceration decreased in urban counties but increased in rural counties.
• Future research could explore differences in case processing and release practices across counties.

Progress Report

Report to Whatcom County Stakeholders on Progress towards Reducing the Jail Population

Dr. Jennifer Schwartz with Emma Deneau, Safiya Hafiz, Seth Wood, Christian P Maynard, & Dr. Jennifer Sherman

INTRODUCTION

WRJN researchers worked with Whatcom County stakeholders to identify accomplishments and remaining or emergent challenges.
This report presents some findings from WRJN’s analysis and assessment of progress towards the recommendations and strategies identified in the Vera Report to reduce Whatcom County’s jail population.

METHODS

WRJN analyzed:

• Jail Data
• Crime Data on offenses/arrests
• Court Statistics

WRJN conducted:

• Virtual Jail Tour
• Court Observations
• Interviews with Stakeholders

To identify key accomplishments, county staff reported on achievements and challenges for each relevant recommendation/strategy.

THEMES

• Commitment to the Process
  • Root Causes, Rehabilitation, Fairness & Compassion
• Collaboration across Fields
• Data-Informed Decision-Making
• Challenges Collaborating
  • Different Lenses, Communication, Resistance

CRIME, JAIL AND COURT TRENDS

Overall, crime rates in Whatcom County have declined since 2015.

Theft and Burglaries declined in rate over the 2015 to 2022 period. Assault rates were mostly unchanged, or modestly increased.

Jail admissions declined slightly pre-pandemic, dropped significantly in 2020, then started to increase in 2021, driven by pretrial admissions.

With rising pretrial admissions and use of book and release, the jail’s composition has shifted towards pretrial and felony-level defendants.

Average length of pretrial jail stay has increased for those held on charges of burglary or on a warrant.

Although fewer people have been sentenced to jail since 2019, the average and median lengths of stay have doubled or tripled.

In 2022, the number of court proceedings relating to misdemeanors met or exceeded pre-pandemic levels in District/Municipal courts.

In Superior Court, case filings did not decrease during the pandemic. Case resolution rates have worsened since 2019.

Jail recidivism has declined since 2015.

EVALUATION OF VERA REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS AND STRATEGIES

RECOMMENDATION #1 Reduce Admissions to the Jail via Diversion

STRATEGY:
Divert Low-Level Offenses, Expand Use of Book and Release Practices

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Increase in Book & Release practices likely reduced jail admissions and populations

Major reductions in jail admissions due to diversion of those with low-level charges, such as DLWS, FTA, and some warrants

CHALLENGES & NEXT STEPS

Booking restrictions are temporary. Law enforcement morale may suffer without clear goals, proper monitoring of effects.

STRATEGY:
COORDINATE BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE WITH LEGAL SYSTEM TO PREVENT JAIL ADMISSIONS

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

GRACE has been highly successful:
Enrollment increased, client needs are met, use of emergency services reduced.
LEAD services are in demand with growing enrollments.

Behavioral Health Co-Responder Program piloted with the Sheriff’s Department.
ART deploys a behavioral health specialist and a public health nurse to non-violent crisis calls in Bellingham.
Anne Deacon Center for Hope offers crisis stabilization for acute mental health and substance use disorder.

NEXT STEPS

Maintain or expand investments in GRACE; develop LEAD program further

Enhance law enforcement use of crisis center:
Clarify patient acceptance criteria, how to determine appropriate cases. Streamline intake procedures.
Embed behavior health resources for clients but are wellpositioned to identify needs and protect confidentiality.

STRATEGY:
ESTABLISH A SOBERING CENTER

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Capital funding for a 23-hour Crisis Relief Center is being pursued.

CHALLENGES

DUI continues to be a major reason for jail stays

STRATEGY:
DEVELOP MECHANISMS TO PREVENT JAIL ADMISSIONS FOR TECHNICAL VIOLATIONS OF COMMUNITY SUPERVISION

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Electronic home monitoring and detection devices utilized as alternative to incarceration.

Felony cases reviewed in Prosecutor’s Office for appropriate “drop downs” to gross misdemeanor charges and District Court supervision.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Probation violations declined as reason for jail entry
However, charges of failure to comply (FTC) grew

CHALLENGES & NEXT STEPS

Costs of monitoring are high and may not improve outcomes to justify; reserve for higher-risk individuals
Increased monitoring and surveillance without building in tolerances can result in more violations; prioritize treatment over punishment

Consider wider use of felony dropdowns, such as for Theft and Burglary, when appropriate

RECOMMENDATION #2
Curtail New/Outstanding Warrants for Low-level Charges

STRATEGY:
ANALYZE WARRANT DATA TO UNDERSTAND PROBLEM AND TARGET SCOPE

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

New case management system to collect warrant data is pending.

CHALLENGES & NEXT STEPS

Warrants remain a top reason for individual to enter jail.

STRATEGY:
IMPLEMENT POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO REDUCE BENCH WARRANTS FOR COURT NONAPPEARANCE

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Prosecutor’s Office policy of not filing standalone DWLS-3 charges should effectively reduce warrants for court non-appearances related to DWLS.
Judicial changes allowing counsel appearance and other alternatives to in-person appearance have likely reduced non-appearances.

CHALLENGES

In Superior Court, number of pretrial proceedings per case has increased, a factor associated with higher rates of non-appearance.

NEXT STEPS

Courts should build a practice of “meaningful court events”, minimizing the number of hearings individuals must attend.
Clients should be encouraged to enroll in court notification systems.
Applying a willful flight standard when making warrant and bail decisions would reduce jail incarceration.

STRATEGY:
INCREASE OPPORTUNITIES TO RESOLVE OUTSTANDING WARRANTS

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

A warrant quash day was held for all courts in 2019.

CHALLENGES

Warrant issuances increased last year.

NEXT STEPS

Organizing warrant quash day involving all courts may be beneficial. Municipal and District Court involvement would assist those with multiple warrants across courts.
Courts should assure users they will not be arrested post-appearance and that fines/fees due will not be required on the date of appearance.

RECOMMENDATION #3
Individualized, Data-driven Risk Assessment for Pretrial Release

STRATEGY:
ENSURE DEFENSE COUNSEL IS PRESENT AT ALL BAIL DETERMINATIONS

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Public defense is present at nearly all bail determinations

Use of release on personal recognizance has increased.

NEXT STEPS

Public defense should be present at weekend probable cause hearings to assist in securing pretrial release.
Collaboratively review bail procedures; Consider adopting presumption of release unless risk is demonstrated.

CHALLENGES

Bail amounts typically were set at $2000 or more. One-third were assigned bail of $10,000+.
Many/Most who were assigned amounts over $500 did not post bail.

STRATEGY:
IMPLEMENT A COURT REMINDER SYSTEM TO FACILITATE RELEASE ON PERSONAL RECOGNIZANCE

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Superior Court, District Court, Bellingham, Blaine, Everson, Lynden, and Sumas Municipal Courts engage in a text message reminder program for appearances, probation appointments, and drug tests.
Over 9,600 text messages were sent in 2022.
District Court made 3,441 phone call reminders in 2022.

CHALLENGES & NEXT STEPS

Success rates varied across courts, and some system problems were noted.
Public defense resources are limited but are a valuable resource for encouraging court appearances.

• Improve reminder system
• Reduce logistical challenges (transportation, childcare)
• Add flexibility in scheduling
• Provide useful resources
• Early access to counsel
• System navigation support

STRATEGY:
ADOPTING AND VALIDATING A DATA-DRIVEN PRETRIAL RISK ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Extensive evaluation efforts were undertaken to evaluate instruments that produce fair results without worsening inequalities.
The Superior Court adopted the Public Safety Assessment (PSA), a researched and validated pretrial risk assessment tool.

CHALLENGES & NEXT STEPS

The PSA was recently implemented, making it difficult to assess its long-term impacts.
Stakeholders should consider guidelines for the tool’s use.
The county should engage experienced quantitative researchers to conduct a local validation study of the PSA and examine disparities in pretrial decision-making.

STRATEGY:
ESTABLISH PRETRIAL SERVICES FOR ALL COURTS

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Pretrial Services Unit established in Superior Court to assist with monitoring individuals awaiting trial.

NEXT STEPS

Expand Pretrial Services to further support court appearances and offer service referrals

RECOMMENDATION #4
Develop a Case Flow Management Plan to Reduce Time to Disposition and Shorten Length of Jail Stays

STRATEGY:
DEVELOPING A CASE MANAGEMENT PLAN TO MINIMIZE APPEARANCES, LIMIT CONTINUANCES, AND RESOLVE CASES QUICKLY

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Superior Court now reviews continuance requests for sufficient cause.

CHALLENGES & NEXT STEPS

Public defense often received case files with insufficient time for review, were unable to meet with clients before court, and reached caseload limits or incurred conflicts.
Good faith settlement conferences between prosecution and defense could occur more often and earlier to deflect need for additional hearings.
The current data system does not allow for tracking sources of backlogs or other analyses of case processing performance.

Case resolution rates for Superior Court have slowed, not hastened.
Case filings in Superior Court remained steady over time; number of proceedings per case has grown

RECOMMENDATION #5
Create Oversight and Accountability Mechanisms

STRATEGY:
RECONVENE LAW & JUSTICE COUNCIL WITH STAFF, MEETINGS, AND RESEARCH CAPACITY

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Whatcom County Council adopted ordinance (Ord. 2019-056) designating an ongoing County Law and Justice Council with oversight functions, as required by state law.
The Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force as Council has four working committees, produces annual reports, has dedicated staff with grant-writing, data analyst skills.

STRATEGY:
REPORT AND PUBLISH DATA REGULARLY TO ENSURE TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Adopted integrated data platform (Julota) to produce timely reports and analyses for beh health & diversion programs.
• Sheriff’s Department, IPRTF, Emergency Services, and other county entities routinely publish annual or special data reports.
• Public data dashboard creation is significantly underway.
• Information Needs and Data Exchange (INDEX) Committee of IPRTF is improving data systems and information sharing.

CHALLENGES & NEXT STEPS

Court data and performance reports not readily available.
More information needed on case processing and reasons for court non-appearances and warrants.
Integrated data platforms would be useful, along with analysts to manage archives and data analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

Whatcom County made significant progress:

• Reduced use of jail for lower-level charges
• •Expanded behavioral health resources, programs
• •Increased use of release without bail
• •Established pretrial services and court reminders
• •Created oversight and accountability mechanisms

CONCLUSIONS

Next steps and challenges to overcome include to:

• Articulate clear goals for booking restrictions
• Enhance behavioral health resources and use
• Address jail stays due to DUI, warrants, assault
• Fortify public defense resources, behavioral health and system navigators
• Enhance pretrial services, court reminders, referrals
• Reduce Superior Court case filings, proceedings; increase felony drop downs, hasten time to case resolution

REFERENCES

Camello, M., Shute, R., & Ropero-Miller, J. D. (2023). Alcohol and drug monitoring for community supervision. Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI International. https://cjtec.org/ files/64d54441ed54c
Gouldin, Lauryn P. (2018) “Defining Flight Risk,” University of Chicago Law Review: Vol. 85: Iss. 3, Article 3. Available at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclrev/vol85/ iss3/3;
Pretrial Justice Institute. (May 23, 2023) Unpacking Willful Flight: A Call for Equity Centered Reform. https://www.pretrial.org/files/resources/willfulflight5.31.23.pdf
Alissa Fishbane et al. (2020) Behavioral nudges reduce failure to appear for court. Science 370,6517:p. eabb6591; see also p. 658 . https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science. abb6591. S6
Surur, Intisar & Andrea Valdez. (Feb 2019). Pretrial Reform Task Force: Final Recommendation Report. Washington’s Pretrial Reform Task Force, https://www.courts.wa.gov/subsite/mjc/docs/PretrialReformTaskForceReport.pdf
Ostrom, B, L Hamblin, R Schaufler, and N. Raaen. (2020) Timely Justice in Criminal Cases: What the Data Tells Us. National Center for Court Statistics. https://www.ncsc.org/__data/assets/pdf_file/0032/69890/Timely-Justice-in-CriminalCases-What-the-Data-Tells-Us-v2.pdf

Questions? Comments?
Jennifer.Schwartz@wsu.edu
https://soc.wsu.edu/people/faculty/schwartz-jennifer/

Rethinking Rural Recidivism: System Navigation Problems and the Myth of the Revolving Door

JENNIFER SCHWARTZ AND JENNIFER SHERMAN
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

Research supported by the National Institute of Justice and by the Vera Institute of Justice & Arnold Ventures

Rural jail populations continued to rise while urban and other jail populations declined (rate per 100,000 residents ages 15-64)

Rural Eastern and Central Washington

The “Revolving Door”

I’m sure most everybody… here would agree that the, the influx of drugs and the change in the inmates’ behavior since had a huge impact on our ability to do our job… It’s just a neverending cycle and a revolving door and it’s… they just, they get lost, and keep coming back over and over and over again.

Paul Lewis, Jail Superintendent, rural Washington State*

*All names are pseudonyms

System Navigation Problems (SNP): Revolving Doors & Downward Spirals

Many initial and subsequent jail stays were due to System Navigation Problems (SNP), that manifested in:

• Missed court dates (failure to appear)
• Failures to comply, Failures to pay fines
• Driving while license suspended
  • Financial and logistical struggles criminalized rural poverty and created negative feedback loops

Criminalizing Poverty: Financial and Non-Financial Mechanisms

Criminalization of Poverty and Mass Incarceration

• “Net-widening” (Garland 2001) > “high fines and misdemeanors” (KohlerHausmann 2018; Edelman 2017)
• Legal financial obligations and cash bail system (Harris 2016; Page & Soss 2021)
• “Procedural Hassle” and Non-Financial Burdens of Legal Process (Feeley 1979)
• Maze of obligations within and across courts, bureaucracies (Paik 2021)
• Opaque and complex legal process without counsel (Huebner & Giuffre 2022)

Spatial Inequalities and Rural Lacks

Rural Disadvantages:

• Lack of support services in criminal-legal systems (Weisheit et al. 1995)
• Lack of legal counsel, pretrial programs, and diversion services (Kang-Brown & Subramanian 2017; Pruitt et al. 2018)
• Lack of affordable housing (Sherman 2023), public transportation (Eason et al. 2017; Henning-Smith et al. 2017), health and mental health services (SnellRood et al. 2016; Waity 2019); reliable internet (Townsend et al. 2013; TurnerLee 2018)

Pretrial Jail Admissions

Quantitative Jail Booking & Release Data: 2015 – 2019

37 in-depth phone interviews of those with rural jail experience(s)

Qualitative Data: Collected between July 2019 – Dec 2021

Uncovering large-scale patterns and how they occurred.

Uncovering SNP: Insights from MultiMethods Research

System Navigation Problems (SNPs)
Types of System Navigation Problems % of SNPs
Court non-appearance (Failure to Appear) 55% (9,164)
Warrant arrest 18% (2,983)
Driving while license suspended (DWLS) 18% (2,983)
Failure to comply (FTC) 7% (1,100)
Other “Failure” charges (e.g., pay, register, obey) 2% (598)

Why are rural people going to jail?
Pretrial Booking Incidents, Top Charge, 2015-2019 % of total
System Navigation Problem (e.g., FTA, DWLS) 41% (16,862)
Assault (mainly Domestic Violence) 10% (4,147)
DUI 7% (3,986)
Drugs (paraphernalia, possession, sales) 7% (2,943)

TOTAL (other than shown): 736,305
34% of total System Navigation Problems: 247,949
9% of total Drugrelated: 65,842
Assault: 59,573
DUI: 35,695

Repeated Jail Entries

5+ bookings 22% (Bookings)
5+ bookings 8% (People)

1 booking 64% (People)
1 booking 38% (Bookings)

Repeated Jail Entries
Most people – 64 percent – were jailed (pretrial) once over five years

5+ bookings 22% (Bookings)
5+ bookings 8% (People)
1 booking 64% (People)
1 booking 38% (Bookings)

Repeated Jail Entries
8 percent of people who were jailed five (or more) times accounted for 22 percent of pretrial bookings

5+ bookings 22% (Bookings)
5+ bookings 8% (People)
1 booking 64% (People)
1 booking 38% (Bookings)

Percent with one or more SNP / Drug Charge(s) for Those with Multiple or Single Pretrial Jail Entries, 2015-2019

System Navigation Problem as Reason for Jail Re-Entry (Refer to Figure)

Staff Understandings of Recidivism

You know there’s bad people on the street and there’s bad people in the hills and there’s bad people that need to come to jail.

Tim Campbell, Jail Lieutenant

[Our inmates are mostly] frequent fliers. You look in there and go back in their history and they have been in numerous times for the same stuff.”

Roger Brooks, Jail Commander

Let’s say Inmate A, you know he comes to jail the first time, for whatever reason, his license gets suspended and in a small area, you know the police officers and the local precincts know who this offender is and they continually ride him while he’s trying to get to probation meetings, court
hearings, family events, work, and so the fees just continue to add up. And then you put this guy in jail… or what it may be more court time, more court, it’s just a revolving door… They’re so far in the hole, it’s just impossible for them to get out.

Tim Campbell, Jail Lieutenant

System-Involved Experiences of SNP

I got myself in trouble by drinking and driving one night…. I was
released. But then because of a failure to appear back in court, that issues
a warrant. And then I got picked up at my house for the warrant. Then I
spent another — and this kind of perpetuated itself, like back and forth,
back and forth for about two or three years just because I didn’t have the
money to pay it then. I didn’t — you know, I was struggling in between
trying to get housing and doing everything else.

Michelle Turner, 56, white

I was trying to get into a house or apartment or whatever. Housing in [this] county is very difficult. There is not a lot of it, at all. I didn’t have a vehicle. I shouldn’t be driving. So I needed something close and on transportation. So we were living at Motel 6. There goes your money right there.

Michelle Turner, 56, white

[My kids] were pissed. They were pissed. My oldest two especially. Especially my eldest… He was like, ‘what is your effin problem, Mom? You’ – I mean, oh, god, yeah. It wasn’t good. And he never let me live that down for three or four years.

Michelle Turner, 56, white

SNP Spirals

I just wasn’t able to make it through the program. I think it was supposed to last — it was an outpatient treatment program that I think was supposed to last, like, three months but I didn’t make it through that. And just, like, each time I had to go back I got a little more jaded by the experience because it didn’t seem to be … doing anything for me… [But] it was basically do that or go to jail. And I think each time I ended up in jail.

Aaron Johnson, 35, white

I had to walk super far in the middle of winter to get to it and I had a twisted ankle.

Aaron Johnson

I have had several bench warrants issued because of a failure to appear. One or two times, I did not even know that I had a court date. Or it would be more accurate to say I did not remember… So I had a court date, didn’t know about it, missed it for obvious reasons, and got arrested and thrown in jail… And then other times, because of my issues with anxiety and depression, I would wake up and, like, I could not make myself even get out of bed to go to court… I have had several bench warrants for that particular reason.

Aaron Johnson, 35, white

I didn’t get those [court] notices when I was homeless but when I was caught, I was usually ticketed there on the spot and they would say, okay, just show up at this court date.

Aaron Johnson

SNP and Rurality

There are good things and there are bad things about the town. One of the bad things being, as I’m guessing is the case in many rural areas, the legal/criminal justice community.

Q: What do you mean by that?

I mean that, for example, um, public defenders are overworked. They are hard to come by. There is only, like, three judges here. I don’t even know if we have that many now… And, just, I don’t have a good, like, relationship with them for probably fairly obvious reasons.

Aaron Johnson, 35, white

SNP Spirals

I don’t really recall how many times I have been in the [County] Jail… maybe four or five times. And when I went in there, it was for nothing. There was only one time I went in there for something major. And the other times, it was in there for, you know, failure to appear or a court warrant, you know, out of town court warrant.

Randy Sanchez, 48, Latinx and Native American

SNP and Rurality

So the cops know you. They know you by name. They know your vehicle. And they don’t need a reason to pull you over. They are going to. If they see you driving, and they know that rig because it’s a small town, they are going to pull you over with or without cause. It is illegal for them to do that. It’s called profiling. But in a small town, they don’t care. They are going to.

Clay Nash, 32, white

SNP Spirals

Ninety percent of people that go to jail that I’ve met there aren’t pieces of shit. They want to do better. They want to have a better life. But when you get in their system deep enough, you can’t. You can’t get a decent job. If you can’t get a decent job, how do you pay to get your license back? If you can’t get a license back, you can’t get a decent job. It is this is downward spiral effect that it is really hard to hit the brakes and it is really hard to stop.

Clay Nash, 32, white

Conclusion: SNP and “Recidivism”

• System navigation problems contributed to the rise in rural jail incarceration.
• SNP spirals negatively impacted jobs, housing, income, and relationship stability.
• Rural social and structural conditions exacerbated cycles and/or increased the likelihood of SNP.
• Low-income and vulnerable individuals were most likely to get entangled in SNP charges and faced the biggest struggles in ending cycles.

Conclusion: Addressing SNP

• SNP need to be addressed at multiple levels:
  • Local Services: improving access to housing; transportation; financial stability; and treatment for substance abuse, health, mental health, IPV/DV issues.
  • Criminal-Legal Systems: improving access to public defense/counsel; digital court reminders; relicensing programs; system navigation aid; and diversion services.
  • Structural Level: better integration of social with criminal-legal services; decriminalization of misdemeanors; broader recognition of logistical as well as financial means by which poverty is criminalized.

Thank you!

We appreciate the time and efforts of our
county participants and those who spoke with
us about their incarceration experiences.

Questions or comments?
Jennifer Schwartz: Jennifer.Schwartz@wsu.edu
Jennifer Sherman: Jennifer_Sherman@wsu.edu
Or visit our website: https://labs.wsu.edu/wrjn/

Thanks to our research team:
Clay Mosher, Ph.D.
Wendy Alcantar
Marisa Cervantes, Ph.D.
Christian Maynard, M.A.
Megan Parks, M.A.
Sandra Yokley, M.A.

Rural Washington Jails Analysis 2016-2021

Research Findings and policy Recommendations
Vera Institute of Justice

The continued rise of jail incarceration in small town America is eroding national progress toward ending mass incarceration.

Smaller cities and rural counties have the highest incarceration rates.

Broad Lessons Learned

Rural jails in Washington are being used primarily to hold people for minor charges, including for charges directly related to poverty, substance use and domestic violence.

Punitive state-level policies such as mandatory arrest for domestic violence and penalties arising from drivers license suspension have broad impact on jail incarceration in rural Washington counties.

Findings from Washington

Project structure and research methods

• Vera partners with local public university: Washington State University
• WSU team set up DUAs, cleaned & analyzed jail administrative data,
• court-watching data. WSU also did significant qualitative research.
• Universities lead on analysis; Vera leads on policy framing + connections
• WSU project site: https://labs.wsu.edu/wrjn/ (county fact sheets soon!)

While total jail incarceration rates in Washington State are below the national average, the rates in rural counties are mostly higher than the state’s average.

In the six counties examined in this study, rural jail populations have continued to rise in 5 of the 6 and have higher rates than the state.

Analysis of jail bookings data covers roughly five-year periods (from 2015-2016 to 2019-2021, depending on the county)

Key drivers of jail incarceration in participating counties

Penalties related to system rules
Driving with suspended license
Driving under the influence
Assault

Penalties Related to Navigating the Criminal Legal System

In 4 of 5 counties, 30% to 38% of all people booked into jail were as a penalty related to navigating criminal legal system requirements.

Failure to appear is the most common charge within this group: from 23% to 30% of jail bookings

Driving With a Suspended License

10 to 14% of admissions in three of five counties for driving with a suspended license

People that go to jail . . . want to have a better life. But when you get in their system deep enough, you can’t. You can’t get a decent job. If you can’t get a decent job, how do you pay to get your license back? If you can’t get a license back, you can’t get a decent job. It is this downward spiral effect that is really hard to hit the brakes and it is really hard to stop.

32 year-old white man, Grant County

Driving Under the Influence

• DUI charges range from 4 to 15 percent of admissions
• Usually people booked on DUI have much shorter stays than other charge types
• State DUI laws require jail stay or home electronic monitoring

Mandatory Arrest for Domestic Violence

Most jail bookings for assault are related to domestic violence

73% Okanogan
70% Whitman
70% Kittitas
66% Ferry
63% Grant

Domestic violence charges are the second most common type of top charge for women booked into jail pretrial.

In four of the five counties, over 80 percent of domestic assault charges were misdemeanors.

• 95% in Okanogan
• 90% in Grant and Whitman
• 82% in Ferry.

Impacts of Mandatory Arrest Laws

• Higher arrest rates of women
• Arrests of survivors
• Arrest of the person suspected of causing the harm regardless of a survivor’s wishes
• Unwanted involvement of child protective services
• Increased danger of retaliation from an abusive partner

I was already in a fight with [my mom] a while ago and I was like, okay, I’m going to give her another chance. And we started arguing really bad, a scream fight. And… my boyfriend walked out. And then I went to walk out and I nudged my mom, and she turned around and ripped my hair, and then we got into a fist fight. And then we ran down the highway to his house. And then I got arrested. The cops found me there.

18 year old Native American and White woman, Okanogan County

Drug-Related Charges

Drug-related charges comprise 10% or less of admissions

6-10% of jail admissions across participating counties are for drug-related charges

Methamphetamine was the most common drug-related charge, when substance was identified

Why are people staying in jail in Rural Washington?

Across all counties, the charges corresponding with the longest jail stays were drug-related and theft. These charges resulted in about double the overall average length of stay.
In Ferry County, FTA admissions averaged almost 9 days.

In contrast, in three counties, the shortest lengths of stays were for driving under the influence (DUI) charges.

Holds for other criminal legal system agencies

Washington DOC contracts for county jail beds:

• 26 percent of admissions in Ferry County are for DOC community custody violations
• 14 days average length of stay in Grant County (11% of admissions, 9.9 days overall)

In Whitman county, people on U.S. Marshals holds stayed on average of two and a half months in jail.
This group brings up the average length of stay from 3.7 to 6.6 days overall.

Disparities in the Jail Population

Racial disparities in rural Washington jails

Across all counties, Black counties were represented in jail populations at twice or more their proportion of the county population

Indigenous people were over represented in jail populations from 1.5 to 4 times their proportion in the county population

Increasing Women’s Population

Over a quarter of people in jail in participating counties are women – a proportion that has increased since 2000 in four of the five counties.

The rate of women in jail in Washington has increased over 5 fold from 1980 to 2019.

Penalties related to system rules, assault charges (mostly domestic violence-related), drug-related charges, DUI, and DWLS.

Policy Recommendations

Local policy recommendations

Require text reminders and provide support to help people get to required court hearings; use local authority to stop using jail as a penalty for failure to appear.
Use local authority to stop enforcement of DWLS 3.
Increase coordination with existing community organizations to support people affected by domestic violence.
Resist proposals for jail expansion or new jail construction

State-level policy recommendations

End the practice of driver license suspension for nonpayment of fines or for failing to appear in court.
Provide resources to rural counties to establish supportive pretrial services, ideally community-based.
End mandatory arrest for domestic violence law enforcement calls; direct support towards non-carceral responses to domestic violence.

Q & A

This project was funded by and made possible through Arnold Ventures.

Dr. Jennifer Peirce
Senior Research Associate
Jail Decarceration Team
jenniferpeirce@vera.org

Dr. Jennifer Schwartz
Washington Rural Jails Network
WSU Sociology Department
jennifer.schwartz@wsu.edu

Madeline Bailey
Senior Program Associate
Jail Decarceration Team
mbailey@vera.org

Shahd Elbushra
Program Associate
Jail Decarceration Team
selbushra@vera.org

Extra Information

Reducing use of jails can occur without compromising public safety.
Rural jails in Washington are being used mostly to detain people for minor charges, including situations related to poverty, substance use and domestic violence.
Rural communities should not be forced to use limited resources and infrastructure to incarcerate people

Remind people of court dates and make documents more legible
Provide free, accessible transportation to court
Provide childcare options at court
Allow defense attorneys a reasonable window to produce their client before issuing a warrant
End the use of court-related fines and fees

Key drivers for pretrial jail incarceration in participating counties:

• Penalties for problems navigating the criminal legal system
  • Top charge type in 4 of 5 counties
• Driving with a suspended license
  • Top category in two counties: 14% in Kittitas and 12% in Whitman
• Statewide mandatory arrest policies for domestic violence charges
  • Average 13-16% of bookings

Eastern Washington Rural Jails Research and Policy Network

Dr. Jennifer Schwartz

Dr. Jennifer Sherman

Washington State University Department of Sociology

WASPC Conference, Fall 2019