ESCANABA — Delta County Jail has already noticed a change since the district court began participating in a pilot program to try and reduce jail costs by setting reasonable bonds for people awaiting trial.

The program, which started in January, was created after Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget McCormack decided changes needed to be made in Michigan after looking at bond reform.

Courts in Hamtramck, Clinton Township, Mount Pleasant, Flint and Escanaba are participating in the program that has judges setting bonds based on statistical models of risk.

Delta County Sheriff Ed Oswald said there are a lot of inmates currently lodged in jail that cannot make their bond, but in recent weeks he has noticed the numbers of inmates go down.

“Our numbers have come down slightly in the last two weeks,” he said. “We were at 120, we’re down to low 100s now. So we have noticed a difference in the last week and a half.”

The district court judge or magistrate can now set reasonable bonds by using a statistical model of risk, or risk assessment tools, to evaluate defendants before they’re arraigned in district court.

Oswald said he has noticed over the years the length of time inmates wait for trials and sentencing has increased.

“The time seems to be increasing each year. It’s not uncommon for a trial to be over a year out from the arrest date,” he said.

The district court has been working with Oswald and the jail to reduce the jail population by taking a look at the people lodged there and releasing some of them with more conditions.

“We have sat down a couple times over the last six months with district court and looked at who’s in jail and what the bonds were,” he said.

Oswald explained the staff of the jail knows the inmates and knows who would succeed with a lower bond and specific conditions.

“They’re with them every day,” he said.

Community safety is always considered when bonds are set and when bonds are reassessed.

“If they’re defiant in jail with staff, they’re going to be defiant in abiding by bond conditions,” Oswald said.

Lowering the cost to run a jail is one of the goals of the program.

Oswald explained the number of inmates can effect the cost of running the jail because when the jail has high numbers of inmates more staff is needed.

“When we are overcrowded we put extra staff on — when our numbers are extremely high,” he said.

Less people in jail will lower the costs of running the jail but with more people out on bond, Oswald said it will still put a strain on his department.

He explained more people released from jail will spread the deputies assigned to road patrol thin because they’re the ones checking in to make sure people are adhering to bond conditions.

“We are getting stretched thinner and thinner with more tasks,” he said. “But … we need to hold them responsible to their bond conditions. We need to check up on them.”