County restores program that will allow PR bonds

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A program that made it feasible for judges to release people on a personal recognizance bond is about to return to the scene after an absence of nearly four years.

El Paso County commissioners approved a resolution Tuesday allowing the sheriff’s office to hire a full-time employee who will help resurrect the Pretrial Services Program, which monitors and supervises people who are charged with a crime but allowed to go free without posting bond.

The program had been around since at least the mid-’80s, most recently as a county operation. But it was axed in 2008 because of county budget cuts. Without the supervision the program provided, judges have been reluctant to release people on a personal recognizance bond, said 4th Judicial District Court Judge Deborah J. Grohs, part of a group that has been working to restore the program.

“We have people in jail awaiting trial who we don’t necessarily think should be in jail,” she said Tuesday. “They’re on very low bonds, but can’t afford to bond out. Our taxpayer dollars are being spent on housing these people.”

Grohs and Sheriff Terry Maketa, whose office launched the effort to bring back the program, said that keeping people who are awaiting trial out of jail allows them to keep working.

“People who are sitting in jail are losing their jobs. They’re not able to support their families or pay child support,” Grohs said. “We’re very supportive of this as a bench.”

Maketa said the $70,000 program, which includes the employee's pay, benefits and program costs, will be funded through fees charged to the defendant, including an automatic PR bond fee. Additional fees can be generated if the judge requires electronic monitoring, alcohol testing or other services, he said.

The full-time employee will receive help monitoring and supervising people from sheriff’s office staff who are freed up when inmates at the jail are out during the day on work release programs, Maketa said. Grohs said the supervision will make it more likely that defendants will show up for their trials.

“We are faced with defendants who don’t appear for their court dates for a variety of reasons,” she said. “They’re not always responsible; they don’t remember their court dates, or they lost the piece of paper we gave them. Or they could be out committing crimes, or drinking, or using drugs. This gives us supervision over them, so they’ll be checking in on a regular basis.”

The program is not extended to people who are accused of violent crimes, but those facing lower-level felonies and misdemeanors would be eligible, Maketa said. He anticipates that about 1,300 to 1,500 people will be funneled through the program in the first few years.

Maketa also plans to bring back a Criminal Justice Advisory Board and create a new Criminal Justice Executive Committee to tackle big-picture issues in the system and monitor the Pretrial Services Program.

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