More Results

From March 2019 to March 2021, over 1,200 individuals awaiting court appearances for felony charges were released through the efforts of the Jail Population Review Committee, either via modified conditions of release and community supervision or to residential housing or treatment. These releases equate to over 42,000 jail days reduced at a cost of $127.20 per bed day, adding up to savings in detention costs and a reduced average daily jail population.

Pima County Superior Court’s Enhanced Supervision program helped save an estimated 4,633 jail bed days for individuals in the first and second quarters of Fiscal Year 2020-2021, through more robust staffing and case management.

Pima County Adult Probation Department released their “Probation Strategy CQI Dashboard” for FY 2020-2021, demonstrating a variety of successes as a result of their strategies. Among those include a significant reduction in the numbers of Petitions to Revoke (PTR) filed. Fewer PTR’s filed result in fewer persons arrested on a probation violation warrant and booked into the county jail. Rather than file a PTR, probation officers work harder to reengage probationers and find solutions to barriers to success.

The county’s data collection and analysis efforts have improved with the placement of additional staff, providing data to the Tucson Police Department, a dedicated Data Coordinator for the Justice Services Department, and the Jail Population Coordinator. For example, the data analyst at the Tucson Police Department helped produce interactive data dashboards on a variety of topics including use of force, reported crimes, arrests, traffic collisions, traffic enforcement, and police activity, which will inform future strategies to improve practices within the justice system.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and due to staffing reductions, the county’s Community Collaborative group fell into a hiatus. The county revived this dynamic group in February 2021 and the focus shifted to seeking out the perspectives and recommendations from members, rather than providing information to members. The Community Collaborative developed an action plan with interrelated areas of work aimed at deepening the county’s connection to the broader community, particularly people who have been historically overrepresented in the justice system.

Remaining Challenges

Pima County is focused on addressing remaining challenges in its local justice system.

While progress has been made, issues of differing database systems, coding systems, and privacy persist, which makes data sharing among the stakeholders challenging.

Enhanced caseloads in Pretrial Services have not made much of a dent in lowering the jail population. The impact of judicial autonomy and decision-making was not factored in considerations of justice reform. When judges are unwilling to consider release recommendations, the best plans for reform can become stalled. Further, if courts do not collect data on judicial decisions, efforts to reduce racial, ethnic, and even income disparities become even more difficult to address.

The pandemic slowed Pima County’s Racial and Ethnic Disparities and Disproportionalities program. At the end of February 2021, the Community Collaborative began meeting monthly and reestablished its Racial Equity Community Action Team, a subcommittee whose purpose is to develop and implement a plan to engage the community through a series of Community Dialogues that will collaborate and coordinate with community organizers, identify gaps, and lead to policy recommendations to the County’s Board of Supervisors.

In order to sustainably support long-term strategies to reduce racial and ethnic disparities and disproportionalities in the justice system, while ensuring community voice and experience is incorporated into all Pima County’s justice reform work, Justice Services has hired a Community Engagement and Equity Specialist. This position, funded with General Funds, will lead the Community Collaborative, future Listening Sessions, and work to incorporate data-driven decision making into trauma-informed policy and programming.

Justice Services also contracted with a Tribal Engagement Specialist (member of the Tohono O’Odham Nation) to lead a series of Listening Sessions with two local tribes. Due to both shutdowns related to the pandemic, as well as cultural stigmas associated with discussing justice system involvement, the sessions struggled to yield results. Pima plans to revisit this strategy once pandemic restrictions are lifted, with future guidance from local experts who can inform a culturally-competent approach.

Last, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on every aspect of the county’s local justice system and continues to uniquely affect those incarcerated in local jails. The foundation of collaborative, data-driven strategies, including the necessary structures and collaboration from local stakeholders that are in place to support these strategies, has set the county up well to respond to the pandemic swiftly and effectively.