ESCANABA — The Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration’s recommendations on the state’s jail and pretrial system is a mixed bag of both positives and concerns for Delta County. The task force was created to take steps to reduce jail populations that have tripled in under 40 years.

“Overall, I think it’s workable recommendations,” Delta County Sheriff Ed Oswald said. “I believe they may have to be tweaked in the future.”

He added there needs to be a delicate balance of reducing jail populations, but also keeping in mind the safety of the public and victims.

In January, the 21-member group, which was created by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer with support from Republican legislative leaders, delivered its findings and 18 recommendations to lawmakers.

A big take-away from the panel’s work was the need to be consistency within the criminal justice system in all counties.

According to Oswald, changes to the criminal justice system in Michigan are needed, however it’s difficult to have an “one-size fits all” type of criminal justice system for all counties because all counties are not the same when it comes to crimes and jail populations.

“I don’t think every county can be consistent,” he said. “You have different needs for each county.”

He explained he received the report as soon as it was released. He said the task force looked at the reasons why people were in jail and looked for alternatives to jail sentences.

The task force reviewed 10 years of arrest and court data along with three years of individual-level admission data from a sample of 20 county jails. Though arrests dropped by 22 percent between 2008 and 2018, the average jail population of 16,600 — split evenly between pretrial and convicted detainees — did not decline proportionally, according to the report.

Oswald said as of Monday, the Delta County Correctional Facility had 141 inmates, which is 91 percent capacity.

Not even a year after the move to the new facility, the jail is already at 91 percent capacity and the majority of the inmates are awaiting trial for drug-related offenses, according to Oswald.

When it came to the suggestions and recommendations, Oswald felt there were definitely concerns that need to be addressed.

He explained counties cannot afford to keep making their jails bigger just because the state continues to close prisons and has few resources available in mental and behavioral health for inmates.

An alternative to sentencing someone to jail provided by the task force was getting some of the inmates the behavioral and mental health help they need instead of jail time.

According to Oswald, on average more than half of the jail population is being treated for some type of mental health issue.

He said a vast majority of inmates could benefit from the alternative service, but at this time the state does not have those types of resources available.

There is a mental and behavioral health lock-down house in Delta County, according to Oswald. But the system is flawed and not well equipped for the demands as officers are constantly called there, he said.

He added behavioral health training is coming to the local area for the criminal justice system, but there still needs to be more done on a state level.

Releasing more defendants before trial without requiring them to pay money was a suggestion by the task force that concerned Oswald.

“There are inconsistencies throughout the state on bail — we’re seeing that,” he said. “That’s where we see most of the inconsistencies.”

Although pretrial release bond amounts vary from county to county because they’re set by judges of those counties, Oswald said he doesn’t think there can be a system in place to make it consistent.

He explained the judges are the ones that know the defendants in their court and can determine the correct bond for them, something a state bond system couldn’t take into account.

Giving police more discretion to issue appearance tickets instead of arresting and jailing people was another suggestion by the task force.

According to Oswald, he doesn’t agree with reducing the use of bench warrants, which are issued after someone doesn’t appear in court.

He explained when people are out on pretrial release, they are given a date and time when they’re to appear for their court date — if they don’t, a warrant for their arrest is issued.

Oswald questioned how fining a person would actually guarantee they would show up to their next court date after already missing the first.

Another suggestion from the task force was to stop suspending and revoking licenses for actions unrelated to safe driving.

During the course of the task force’s research, it was found driving without a valid license was the third most common reason for admissions in a jail and correctional system. Michigan residents can have their license suspended for non-driving reasons such as failing to appear in court or a drug conviction.

According to Oswald, some of the other “non-traffic” reasons for suspended a license make sense.

When someone is convicted of a felony level drug-related crime, if they are not sentenced to more than one year in prison then there are license sanctions.

Oswald said the point is to address driving with drugs in their system.

The task force also suggested to reduce fines.

Oswald agreed with the task force’s findings that putting people back in jail for not paying fines creates a vicious cycle of jail time. However, he did note jail time is sometimes the only consequence available to make sure someone does pay fines like restitution. Restitution is the money owed to the victim of a crime to restore something stolen as a result of the crime being committed.

Reducing maximum probation terms for most felonies was another suggestion by the task force.

Oswald agreed with the task force that reducing maximum probation terms for most felonies would have an effect on jail populations.

He explained the study found 10 percent of the people lodged in jail were people who violated their probation or parole.

“That’s a lot,” Oswald said.