March 8, 2005, Introduced by Reps. Brandenburg, Bieda, Acciavatti and Wojno and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
A bill to amend 1982 PA 325, entitled
"An act to authorize county sheriffs to declare a county jail
overcrowding state of emergency; to prescribe the powers and duties
of certain judges, county sheriffs, and other county officials; and
to provide remedies for a county jail overcrowding state of
emergency,"
by amending section 5 (MCL 801.55).
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 5. The sheriff, the persons notified pursuant to section
4,
and other circuit, district, and municipal , and recorder's
court judges may attempt to reduce the prisoner population of the
county
jail through any available means which that are already
within the scope of their individual and collective legal
authority, including, but not limited to, the following:
(a) Judicial review of bail for possible bail reduction,
release on recognizance, or conditional release of prisoners in the
county jail.
(b) Prosecutorial pre-trial diversion.
(c) Judicial use of probation, fines, community service
orders, restitution, and delayed sentencing as alternatives to
commitment to jail.
(d) Use of work-release, community programs, the housing of
prisoners in previously unutilized open space within the jail, and
other alternative housing arrangements by the sheriff, if the
programs and alternative housing arrangements are authorized by
law.
(e) Review of agreements which allow other units of government
to house their prisoners in the overcrowded county jail to
determine whether the agreements may be terminated.
(f) Entering into agreements which allow the sheriff for the
county in which the overcrowded county jail is located to house
prisoners in facilities operated by other units of government.
(g) Refusal by the sheriff to house persons who are not
required by law to be housed in the county jail.
(h) Acceleration of the transfer of prisoners sentenced to the
state prison system, and prisoners otherwise under the jurisdiction
of the department of corrections, to the department of corrections.
(i) Judicial acceleration of pending court proceedings for
prisoners under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections
who will be returned to the department of corrections regardless of
the outcome of the pending proceedings.
(j) Reduction of waiting time for prisoners awaiting
examination by the center for forensic psychiatry.
(k) Alternative booking, processing, and housing arrangements,
including the use of appearance tickets instead of booking at the
county jail and the use of weekend arraignment, for categories of
cases considered appropriate by the persons notified pursuant to
section 4.
(l) Acceptance by the courts of credit cards for payments of
bonds, fines, and court costs.
(m) Use of community mental health and private mental health
resources in the county as alternatives to housing prisoners in the
county jail for those prisoners who qualify for placement in the
programs and for whom placement in the programs is appropriate.
(n) Use of community and private substance abuse programs and
other therapeutic programs as alternatives to housing prisoners in
the county jail for those prisoners who qualify for placement in
the programs and for whom placement in the programs is appropriate.
(o) Preparation of a long-range plan for addressing the county
jail overcrowding problem, including recommendations to the county
board of commissioners on construction of new jail facilities and
funding for construction or other options designed to alleviate the
overcrowding problem.
(p) Review of sentencing procedures, including the elimination
of delays in preparing presentence reports for prisoners awaiting
sentence, and staggering the dates on which prisoners will start
serving a jail sentence to minimize fluctuating demands on jail
capacity.