The Pulaski County Commissioners are voicing their continued support for a pretrial release grant. They signed a letter of support for the grant funding on Monday, at the request of Superior Court Judge Crystal Brucker Kocher.
She explained that the county was awarded a grant for more than $58,000. “This grant provides us the opportunity to hire an additional probation officer, which is Ms. [Amanda] Cosgray and pay for her salary completely through the state,” Kocher said. “So the Department of Correction completely funds her position. The county pays nothing for it. So that provides us with the pretrial officer, who is the person who deals with the Criminal Rule 26, which goes into effect on January 1 that’s going to be required by the Supreme Court for everyone.”
The way it works is that inmates booked into the jail are assessed to determine their risk level for re-offense. The judge can then use that information to decide whether they should remain in jail or be released onto the pretrial program. “It’s basically to equal out the playing field for those people who have the money to pay bond and maybe those people who don’t have the money and need to get back to jobs and things like that,” Kocher explained. “I’m happy to report that our success rate in terms of re-offenses, so far, is about 84, 85 percent, which is good.”
Judge Kocher said she is waiting to hear back on an application for $120,000 over the course of two years, for the courts’ treatment programs.
