Officials defend Rapid Resolution despite jail overcrowding: ‘It has done amazingly well’

Rapid Resolution, the program implemented to reduce overcrowding at the Muscogee County Jail, has made significant progress over the past two years, according to criminal justice officials.

“The intent of the program was to get people out of jail much quicker,” said Public Defender T. Moffett Flournoy III. “During the normal court process, you’re looking at eight months or longer before somebody was indicted or went to court either on a plea or trial. ... I think the average stay in jail now for somebody in Rapid Resolution is about 63 or 64 days, as opposed to eight months.

“It has done amazingly well,” he continued. “We’ve closed over 600 cases, on average, each year, the past two years. And that’s done, on average, six months quicker than it would’ve been going through normal court. That has had a positive impact on the city’s budget and the jail population.”

Flournoy made the comments in response to an Aug. 20 article published in the Ledger-Enquirer, reporting that the jail was packed beyond capacity despite the Rapid Resolution program. The facility, which can accommodate a maximum of 1,065 people, had about 1,077 inmates at the time the article was published, according to Sheriff Donna Tompkins.

Tompkins said the jail population had been climbing steadily over the past few months. When she became sheriff in January, the census was at about 900, she said. It later jumped to 1,000, and continues to increase.

Tompkins said she wasn’t sure why the numbers had climbed so significantly and she was working with judges, along with Public Defender and District Attorney officials, to address the issue.

On Thursday, the Ledger-Enquirer interviewed Rapid Resolution administrators at the Public Defender’s and District Attorney’s offices, and they blamed the overcrowding on the time of year.

“It’s just the normal ebb and flow in the jail population,” Flournoy said. “... I’ve talked to the sheriff. I’ve talked to the personnel at the jail. And, basically, the numbers at the beginning of the year were between 930 and 970 people in jail, and it didn’t go up to over a thousand until July of this year. So, we’ve seen a momentary increase, but that’s kind of historical. In the summertime, we see an increase. That’s nothing new.”

Rapid Resolution is a program designed to move low-level crimes more quickly through the court system, freeing up space in the jail and allowing officials to spend more resources on complex, serious crimes. The program went into effect in 2015 with approval from Columbus Council. Those supportive of the initiative included local judges and representatives from the District Attorney’s and Public Defender’s offices. Local grassroots organizations, such as the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, also were on board.

Rapid Resolution cases are currently handled by full-time personnel at both the DA’s and Public Defender’s offices, who work in tandem to move cases quickly through the court system. In the Public Defender’s Office, the program is under the supervision of Chief Assistant Public Defender Steve Craft. In the DA’s Office, it’s supervised by Assistant District Attorney Michael Craig.

Court is held twice a month, except when the court date falls near a holiday. As cases enter the system, they are reviewed to determine if Rapid Resolution is an appropriate course of action.

“We talk to our counterparts in the DA’s Office and negotiate guilty pleas so we can work something out,” Flournoy said. “We put them on a docket as quickly as possible and resolve the case. The dockets fluctuate, but they’re typically 30 to 40 cases.”

Flournoy said the cases are carefully vetted by Public Defender and DA officials, as well as law enforcement officials and judges.

“Some people call it the ‘Rapid Release Program,’ which is not what it is,” he said. “It is not strictly a program where people are just getting out on probation and having to pay restitution. Probably somewhere between 30 to 40 percent of the people that go through the program actually get some time. The difference is if they get sentenced to prison, then the state has to pick up some of those costs until they come get the people out of our jail. So the city is no longer on the hook for the cost of that inmate.”

Craig, who manages the program for the DA, said his office receives referrals from the DA’s, Sheriff’s and Public Defender’s offices. His team includes a specialist from the DA’s Victims’ Witness program, who helps work with victims who may be affected by the program.

“We meet with every domestic violence victim face-to-face,” he said, giving an example. “We don’t want to rapidly resolve a case and put the abuser back in the home. What we look at is a safety approach.”

He said employees in his office try to put thought into their decisions and they refer people to drug treatment and other relevant programs in the community when necessary.

“Instead of just running you out the door, we try to put somebody where they’ve got a chance not to re-offend,” he said. “As important as the numbers are, everybody here feels very strongly about that. It’s a treatment approach, versus a prison approach.”

Emily Carria, a legal administrative assistant, said Rapid Resolution has closed more cases with each passing year. The program closed 381 cases in 2015, after only six months. It closed 641 cases in 2016, and 449 so far in 2017. The grand total of cases closed is 1,471.

Flournoy said Rapid Resolution is not for everybody, and it usually doesn’t address serious, violent crimes.

“Those are cases that are going to take the normal course,” he said. “They’re going to take some time, either because of the severity complexity, or forensic evidence that has to be tested. ... But we have a lot of low-level cases where individuals want to take responsibility for what they’ve done. They want to go ahead and get into court and plead guilty to a negotiated plea and handle the matter.

“... If we can get someone out on probation within two months, sometimes they can get their jobs back or go find a job,” he said. “This helps them reunite with their families. It also helps victims if restitution is involved, in the case of theft, forgery, something of that nature. They can get a job and start paying that restitution.”

Flournoy said Rapid Resolution won’t necessarily solve the jail overcrowding problem, but it helps.

“It’s one division out of the whole system, and it has a huge impact,” he said. “ But we also have to look at everything that goes on in this circuit and what we can do to improve moving cases.”

This story was originally published September 7, 2017 at 3:36 PM with the headline "Officials defend Rapid Resolution despite jail overcrowding: ‘It has done amazingly well’."