The Marin OR/Pretrial Release program is intended to identify appropriate inmates for release into the community. The program involves interviewing applicable inmates and providing a release recommendation with a standardized risk score. 1. Generating the Transmittal Sheet The transmittal sheet is used to determine which arrestees are eligible to be interviewed. The sheet should be generated as follows: a) Open EJUS website and select In Custody Booking Log report to generate and print report from 6:00 AM on the previous day to 6:00 AM on the current day. On Monday, print the booking log from 6:00 AM Friday to 6:00 AM Monday to cover weekend arrests. b) Open and date a new transmittal sheet. c) Identify individuals to be entered under categories: Referral, New Arrest, Violations of Probation (VOP) Conditional, VOP Supervised and Pending Referral. d) List eligible new arrests, distinguished from VOP (1203.2 PC). Eligible arrests would include open new charges without holds (i.e. ICE, Parole, outstanding warrants. e) Separately list VOP s by Conditional or Supervised Probation (click on IPID # to determine the probation status) f) Only new arrests and conditional VOP s will be interviewed. g) Regardless of probation status, no interview will be conducted for Drunk in Public (647 PC); driving on a suspended license (14601.2); or any other cases where the defendant will likely be released in a few days. h) Check PRISM for referrals from Probation or Court and add referred inmates to Transmittal Sheet. Categorize under pending referrals. (Shortcuts: Referral Process: Program: OR) i) Columns on transmittal sheet include: a. Next court date, department and time (RM/TIME), b. Date of birth (DOB), c. Penal codes (CHARGES), d. List felony or misdemeanor (PC), only for New Arrest and VOP Conditional e. Housing unit or WAIT (#C)
j) For VOP Supervised (who are to be listed but not interviewed) only include name of defendant and charges. k) For Referrals (inmates to appear in felony court that morning) and Pending Referrals (referrals from the court for assessments), include the name of the defendant, the next court date and the charges. l) Comments are optional. 2. Print Booking Sheet for each inmate to be interviewed. Attach to pretrial assessment interview guide and scoring sheet. 3. Email Transmittal Sheet to: a) Sheriff s Department jail contacts who need to be notified of inmates to be interviewed in the jail. o Contacts to be chosen by Sheriff (@marinsheriff.org) o Contact to be chosen by Sheriff (@marinsheriff.org): b) Sheriff s Department Records - to obtain Probable Cause police reports (controlled document). o SOrecords@marinsheriff.org c) Probation to notify departments of new probationers in violation, if any. o Adult Probation (Prob-Adult@marincounty.org) o Juvenile Probation (Prob-Juvenile@marincounty.org) d) Adult Probation to generate the CI&I Reports (controlled document). o Probation Clerical staff (--------@marincounty.org) e) Public Defenders Office (Room #139) to notify of inmates who will be interviewed. o To be determined by Public Defender (--------@marincounty.org) o To be determined by Public Defender (-------@marincounty.org) f) LCA o Assistant Program Director,------------(--------@lcaservices.com) o Lead Case Manager, ------------(------------@lcaservices.com) 4. Referred Inmates Inmates may be referred by the Court for an OR/Bail Assessment Report. a) Referred inmates can be identified in PRISM under Referral Process. b) Reports for these inmates need to be completed by Court Date.
c) Reports should be delivered to the courts (Dept ) by 8:30 AM. d) Felony arraignment reports are delivered to Room C-10 by 9:00 AM so that the clerk can distribute them to the corresponding departments. 5. Inmate Interviews to be conducted in jail a) Immediately after sending out transmittal sheet, report to the jail for interviews. No Interviews are permitted during mealtimes: 11:00 a.m. to Noon, and 4:00 to 4:30 p.m. b) Complete interview list form for Sheriff s Department Deputy at 2 nd floor window with your name and names and location of inmates to be interviewed. Deputy will provide access keycard, identify first inmate to interviewed and interview room. For subsequent interview(s), call the lobby on the Red Phone. c) Inform inmate that s/he is being interviewed to determine eligibility for pretrial release, and that based on the answers, along with verification of the information, there will be an overall score and a report with a recommendation provided to the Court, the District Attorney, and their attorney (Public Defender or defense counsel). Inform inmate of the possible option for supervised pretrial release and the related services and costs. For Example: Hello, I work with LCA and the Probation Department and am here to interview you as a possible candidate for pretrial release, which would mean getting out of jail before your trial. I want to thank you in advance for your cooperation and for providing complete, honest answers. We do have access to your history and will be verifying information. The overall result of the assessment will be provided to your attorney, the district attorney, and the court, along with a recommendation. Individual answers to questions will not be included, only the overall result. If you were to be approved for release, it is possible that a condition of release might be the use of electronic monitoring for supervision. Do you know what that is? (Explain) If electronic monitoring is required, you would be responsible for the cost, determined by your income, with an initial payment of $150.00. Thank you very much for your cooperation. d) Complete pretrial assessment interview guide. e) After completing all interviews, pick up Probable Cause Statements at the Sheriff s Department, 1 st Floor, Room # 145, Civic Center Building. 6. Verification Process
a) Call references provided by inmate to verify community ties and residence. Good Morning, I am calling from LCA with Marin County Probation regarding (inmate name) who is currently in custody. I am doing a report for the court to determine if s/he is eligible for release. Proceed to verify address and find out how long they have lived there. Also ask about substance abuse and employment. Note the contact may probe with additional questions. You can only identify the charge which is public information and which can be found on the County website s booking log. If the reference continues to ask questions, notify the contact s/he can attend the inmate s next court date if s/he would like. b) Call employer to verify employment. When calling to verify employment, be discrete and use your best judgment. If the inmate gives you the direct number to a verifiable (through web) company you can simply call and ask to speak to the inmate. If the response is he/she not available, you can consider employment verified. If they say the inmate does not work there, employment is not verified. Best practice would be having a contact in the company to verify the information. Minimally attempt to identify that the company exists through the web. If they are self employed, verify employment through community ties. The method of verification (i.e. employer contacted, or mother confirmed, talked to a co-worker, etc.) should be described in the comments section of the Pretrial Release Report for the Court. c) If there is a victim in the case, contact victim(s) to determine if s/he would be in fear of her/his safety if the inmate was to be released and to inquire about any active protective orders. Do not pass messages back and forth between victim and inmate. Remain neutral in the conversation as to not influence a statement. Always include the statement in the comments area of the report. Try not to engage in conversation but at the same time be sensitive to incident. If they have further questions, refer them to the DA s office. If you are unable to reach the victim before the report has been submitted and they later call with concern for their safety, an updated report or memo to the court should be sent. If inmate cannot or does not provide victim contact information, check the No box on report for victim notified. d) Verify active protective orders through EJUS. If active, include in comments on report. Most protective orders can be found on EJUS in the court minutes and in many cases there may be information in the probable cause statement. e) Review CI&I report for prior convictions and FTA s. f) Check EJUS for most recent convictions and FTA s that may not appear in CI&I report.
g) Double check for warrants and make sure there are no active or pending warrants on defendant. h) Determine LOW, MODERATE, or HIGH RISK score by using the assessment instrument. i) See supervisor for approval to override any factors that might affect the score. 7. Pretrial Release Report a) Prepare OR/Pretrial Release Report by following the OR/Pretrial Release Report template and complete in entirety all fields that apply. b) Probable cause brief description of alleged charges. The probable cause statement needs to be accurate when summarizing. c) Comments use comments section to detail any additional circumstances for the Judge to consider (any victim comments, problems with the inmate responding to questions, issues that may assist the Judge in making a decision, including any suggested override from the assessment score) as well as any recommendations for treatment.
8. Criteria to consider when making a recommendation. a) The Risk Assessment Score should be the primary decision criteria for a Release recommendation. The Risk Assessment score assesses the probability that a defendant will either fail to appear at a future court date or to be arrested for a new crime prior to the court date. 1) Low Risk: Defendants with a Low Risk score should generally be recommended for release without conditions. However, Continuous Alcohol Monitoring (CAM) should be considered for alcohol related incidents. 2) Medium Risk: Defendants with medium risk scores should generally be recommended for release with conditions of the appropriate electronic monitoring technology - Home Detention (RF), Global Positioning (GPS) and/or CAM. 3) High Risk: Defendants with high risk scores should generally be recommended for release with conditions of the appropriate electronic technology (GPS and/or CAM). b) Required Conditions for a Release Recommendation. Defendants must meet the following minimum criteria to be recommended for release. 1) Verified Community Ties: Defendants needs to have ties to the community (i.e. a place to stay, job, school). Ties to the Bay area for a minimum of one year is also acceptable. Defendants that do not have a fixed address or are considered homeless or all points may still be eligible for release; having a permanent mailing address, using services in the community, such as homeless shelter (Mills Street, etc.) or general assistance or employment may be acceptable community ties. 2) Flight Risk: The inmate should not be a significant flight risk. Examples would include significant resources and connections outside the country with limited community ties. Failure to appear is subject to a $500 fine and/or 6 months in jail. 3) Danger: Is the defendant a danger to him/herself or others? Will the behavior or alleged crime committed by the defendant create further risk to the victim, community or to themselves if released? c) Domestic Violence. For domestic violence cases the defendant will not be allowed to reside with the victim, but if they can establish another suitable place to live, a decision to recommend release (with GPS usually) should be determined by the assessment score.
d) Overrides. There can always be an override based on what the interviewer learns from the inmate, or in verification of community ties and/or employment. However, the risk assessment tool has been researched and validated and takes into consideration factors that contribute to the risk of failure to appear, and committing new crimes if released.
9. Approval and Distribution of the Pretrial Report a) Probation Approval Reports should be emailed to Probation Supervisor, @marincounty.org), or his/her assigned back up, for review and approval as the reports are drafted. Reports for the 1:30 PM court should be submitted to the Probation Pretrial Supervsior no later than 12:30 PM. Reports for following day should be submitted no later than 3:00 PM that day. Changes should be made as needed to obtain recommendation approval. b) Distribution After approved, print an original copy on yellow paper and make two copies on white paper and distribute as follows: Judge (yellow original) District Attorney (white copy) Public defender / defense attorney (white copy) LCA will need a probation identification badge to deliver reports to Dept M prior to the 1:30 PM start time. 10. Tracking Sheet: a) The on-line tracking sheet can be found at: b) Each day staff should update the tracking sheet for every interview conducted. Initially, enter the arrest date, name of inmate, date of interview, assessment score, recommendation and court date. c) After court, the same staff member is responsible to enter the outcome and court decision on the tracking sheet and any other information available such as future court date. 11. Files a) Interview Package: The interview package should be stapled together for each defendant (including the CI&I and pretrial release report) and filed in the file cabinet by day of month. THE CI&I MAY NOT LEAVE THE PROBATION OFFICE. b) Transmittal Sheet: The Transmittal Sheet is kept on computer and in the file cabinet by day of month.
c) Booking Log: The Booking Log should be kept with transmittal sheet in file cabinet. d) Probable Cause: Probable Cause statements should be filed alphabetically by last name in a manila folder in front of file cabinet. THE PROBABLE CAUSE STATEMENTS MAY NOT LEAVE THE PROBATION OFFICE. e) Time of Retention: Files are to be retained for one month following the interview. Remove all paperwork from prior month and toss in bin where all documents are to be destroyed. PROBABLE CAUSE STATEMENTS SHOULD BE RETAINED INDEFINITELY. f) Court Referrals: When an inmate is referred to an LCA program, move interview package (without the CI&I) to a client file. 12. Procedures for Referrals a) LCA will receive referrals directly from the court by fax to (415) XXX-XXXX or email to referralmarin@lcaservices.com. Court minutes are typically available between 4:00 and 5:00 PM on the day of the hearing. A copy of the minutes should also be given to the inmate. b) When the Judge approves a pretrial release with equipment, they will indicate a release date on the referral with specific instructions to release inmate to LCA s custody. The inmates will be released after 7:00 AM the next day to be hooked up in the jail by LCA staff. c) Be sure to follow any special request or circumstances set by the court. d) Keep the physical referral form to be filed with clients file after enrollment. 13. Procedures for Hook-ups a) LCA s laptop will be used to conduct the hook ups in the first floor of the jail. The jail will provide internet access. b) LCA Staff should sign in with jail lobby. Staff will be required to provide County ID and before being allowed into the lineup room. c) The installation, activation of equipment, and intake paperwork should be completed in the lineup room. d) The inmate will likely not have the initial payment required at the time of release. They should be instructed to return the following day to the office to submit the
equipment deposit requirement, paperwork for proper fee assessment and to make their initial payment. e) Once the equipment has been activated an enrollment letter must be submitted to the court (and other reporting parties listed below) f) The rest of the items on the enrollment checklist may be completed at the LCA office. 14. Case Management Services and Reporting For Home Detention and GPS a) Schedule Confirm the schedule complies with court orders. Do not give the client s free time if the court order specifies only leave for school, work, etc. Confirm the defendant is following court orders and attending appropriate treatment, such as an AA or outpatient. b) The first office meeting should be scheduled within the first week of enrollment. During this meeting: The master schedule should be established. The initial drug test should be administered and the client assigned a random drug testing number. The defendant should sign off on the Program plan. c) Clients will be subject to random drug testing, random field visits and monthly office meetings d) Client will be required to provide verification for all court approved activities and follow all program policies established for private clients. e) Case Managers should monitor the client s next court date. Additionally, Progress Reports should be sent to the court for those court dates. f) Reporting Procedures (i.e. enrollment notices, status reports, non-compliance reports, and final reports). i.non-compliance reports will typically be delivered the next business day following an incident. Priority Notification for 24/7 notification can be available at the Court or Probation s request, at an additional cost. Priority Notification requires at least one 24/7 contact from the county (i.e. Probation office, Sherriff s Office, District Attorney, etc.).
ii.all reports should be sent to the following: Judge (via email) Public Defender or defense counsel (via email or fax) iii.non-compliance reports should ALSO be sent to: District Attorney ( @marincounty.org) Chief Inspector ( @marincounty.org) 15. CAM Program Requirements and Reporting a) Client must download through the base station daily. Failure to download will result in incident report to the court. Please make sure to check periodic scheduled communication for once every 24 hours. b) If client does not have phone line, client will be required to report to the LCA office 3 times weekly for download of the 24 hour testing. Designated days for downloads at the LCA office are Monday, Wednesday and Friday. c) All confirmed tampers, alcohol consumptions, missed downloads should be reported on the day confirmation is received to the following: The supervising judge (via fax or email) Public Defender or defense counsel (via fax or email) District Attorney ( @co.marin.ca.us) Chief Inspector ( @marincounty.org) Email Disclaimer: http://marincounty.org/nav/misc/emaildisclaimer.cfm