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[VIRTUAL] Reducing Jail Use through Diversion and Deflection

Booking and holding someone in jail comes with significant social costs. Even short stints in jail can increase the chances of future incarceration and destabilize people by causing job loss, housing insecurity, family separation, and worsening mental health conditions. Crowded jails place tremendous stress on staff, and transporting people to jails consumes limited law enforcement time. For these reasons, avoiding jail bookings or diverting people out of the system soon after arrest, when it can be done safely, is highly beneficial to local justice systems. This session shares insights on how Summit County, Ohio, and East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, implemented diversion and deflection strategies to safely prevent unnecessary jail incarceration. Speakers Lisa Burns, Case Manager, The David O’Quin Pre-Trial Diversion and Recovery Program Niles Haymer, Deputy Director, East Baton Rouge Parish Criminal Justice Coordinating Council Jesse Jannetta, Practice Lead, Community Safety and Well-Being, Urban Institute Debbie Norwood, Resource Coordinator, The David O’Quin Pre-Trial Diversion and Recovery Program Lori Pesci, Director, Summit County Department of Public Safety Local Lessons on Rethinking Jail Use There are nearly 8 million admissions to local jails annually in the United States. Jails have received little attention until recently, despite impacting so many lives, consuming significant fiscal resources, and bearing the brunt of public safety and disorder challenges. Launched in 2015, the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) sought to change the way America thinks about and uses jails. More than 50 local criminal justice systems in communities nationwide became part of the SJC network and innovated to reduce jail incarceration in ways that improve public safety, address disparities, promote stronger, healthier communities, and reduce the financial costs associated with incarceration. Local Lessons on Rethinking Jail Use is a webinar series organized by the Urban Institute that will share practical lessons from this work, to assist decisionmakers in right-sizing their local use of jails to best support public safety, judicious use of limited resources, and community well-being.