The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office started a pretrial GPS monitoring pilot program in August 2022 to keep people out of jail pending trials — allowing them to maintain jobs, education and treatment while also reducing the jail population.
Johnson County Sheriff Brad Kunkel, County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith, a judge and others in 2022 visited Pitt County, N.C., to talk with program officials there about their electronic monitoring, which was saving the county about $1.2 million a year in daily jail costs. The Johnson County program is modeled after it.
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors approved $1.1 million in federal pandemic funds to cover five years of the first-of-its-kind pretrial GPS program in the state.
Kunkel talked with The Gazette about who is eligible for the electronic monitoring, how the program has expanded to include inmates sentenced to jail terms and how the program is paying for itself.
Q: The pretrial program started out with mostly domestic violence defendants, but are others eligible now?
A: There isn’t a set criteria; it’s more on a case-by-case basis. No Class A felonies — first-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery. It can be anywhere from aggravated misdemeanors to Class D felonies, as well as simple and serious misdemeanors. In these instances, the court would suspend the bond and the person would be put on GPS.
Things considered include their criminal history, background and where the offender is going to live — are there potential victims in the home? The program doesn’t want to put victims at risk or others in the community.
The court could always order a defendant at any level of offense to wear a GPS monitor even if they posted bond. For example, let’s say a person is charged with a Class B felony and is held on $50,000 bond. The court could issue an order stating that if the defendant posts bond, they are required to be supervised under the sheriff’s GPS program. Frankly I think this is an underutilized option or tool at the court’s disposal.
Q: How are the offenders selected for the program?
A: There are two deputies, Rob Schuerer and Luther Cassell, who oversee the program and review the jail rosters for good candidates to screen and they make referrals to the County Attorney’s Office and if the prosecutors agree, it’s then up to a judge to release to the Sheriff’s Office for electronic monitoring. The deputies review the background and history and current charge of the offenders before making those referrals.
(Zimmerman Smith adds: “The deputies have a good system for screening and they are communicating with the victims on any possible candidates. The priority is victim safety. It’s been a group — deputies and prosecutors — decision on the candidates.”)
Q: Did American Rescue Plan Act funds pay for the salaries of the two deputies?
A: Yes. Also for electronic ankle monitors and tracking software and a vehicle for the deputies to use for compliance checks. The vehicle was initially denied by the board, but later approved.
Q: How many offenders have been in the pretrial program since it started in 2022?
A: There have been 17. There are four currently on GPS monitoring. We average about five at one time. Among the 17, six were successful and didn’t offend or have a violation, and seven failed. Of those seven, three were arrested on unrelated charges from initial arrest, two had their pretrial revoked for not following guidelines, one person cut off his monitor, escaped and was captured, and one violated a no-contact order. Only one violating a no-contact order is significant. The monitors track those charged in real-time, so they could potentially prevent a no-contact violation because the deputies would immediately know the location of the person.
When selecting the best electronic monitor for the program, Lt. Becky Moses wore three different monitors at the same time for a few days to test the products and software.
Q: Has the program evolved to include additional defendants other than those on pretrial release?
A: It was expanded and helped streamline extra duties of jail staff by shifting inmates on work release, house arrest and others sentenced to jail terms to the GPS deputies who handle those now.
The deputies also are responsible for the mental health commitments and sex offender registry compliance offenders. Each committal takes about two hours and work release takes about 90 minutes to process. There are 153 registered sex offenders in Johnson County. Shifting duties reduced workload for jail deputies, allowing them to focus on inmate management, bookings and other demands.
The jail number as of last week was 53, which is lower than in the past. It has been up to 65. Jail beds are a commodity across the state. From June through December 2022, 1,628 total jail bed days were saved for those on pretrial and sentenced inmates on electronic monitoring. From January through December 2023, 4,426 total jail beds days were saved for those on pretrial and sentenced inmates on monitoring.
The sentenced inmates on GPS are charged for electronic monitoring but those on pretrial are not charged. Since June 2022, the program has added $47,000 into the county’s general fund. The program pays for itself.
I like where the program is going. It’s slower than what we thought. But it’s slower and going in the right direction. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished.
Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com
