Pre-Trial Services

The Pre-Trial Services unit of the department was established in February, 1990, to develop a supervised release program aimed at reducing jail overcrowding. All defendants booked into the jail are screened to determine eligibility. Defendants released into the program by the courts receive regular release, intensive supervision release or electronic monitoring release.

The purpose of Pre-Trial Services is to keep the jail population manageable; alleviate jail overcrowding; initiate contact with all individuals who are arrested in the county to determine the offender's status; provide supervised release; provide treatment and referral options for offenders when needed; allow offenders to hire their own attorneys; and provide information to judges on the defendants at their first court appearance so they can make an informed recommendation on release.

The Pre-Trial Services staff, pre-sentence investigation writers, electronic monitoring staff, absconder caseload staff, and the CSCD Information Systems Director, share office space in the old jail, a turn-of-the-century Williamson County landmark. The staff consists of five full time pre-trial and electronic monitoring positions, three pre-sentence investigation writers, and the absconder caseload officer and his assistant.

The following table compares the number of offenders released from jail into the pre-trial program to the number of offenders denied release from fiscal years ’97 - ’00. Those discharged bonded out of jail on their own.

Pre-Trial Release Program

Fiscal Years '98 - '00

	FY ‘98	FY ‘99	FY '00
Released	320	268	295
Denied Release	194	177	170
Discharged	315	380	254

Since the pre-trial unit was established, offenders released into the pre-trial services program have steadily increased. The program served 403 defendants in fiscal year ’00 after conducting 1,494 interviews for program eligibility.

Additionally, 45% (130) of the pre-trial defendants were released into some form of community supervision. Bond forfeitures have remained consistently low and were at under 2% (6) in FY '00.

The pre-trial program conducts an extensive urinalysis testing program with the OnTrak® Drug Detection System, conducting 4,342 tests in fiscal year ’00. The officers test a sample on site with results available in three minutes. The primary tests are in three categories: marijuana, cocaine and amphetamines. A second test is used to confirm positive results from an initial screening test. Positive samples are sent to the Central Texas Treatment Center Laboratory for confirmation testing. Two methods are used to detect alcohol usage. The most reliable method is an admission of use by the offender. Following admission, the officer then utilizes the continuum of sanctions appropriate to the individual. The second method requires the use of an alcohol testing product that detects alcohol in the offender's saliva or urine.