Thread by @JonGiftosMD

Jail: the churn vs. the grind (THREAD)

For past 2.5 years I have worked as a physician caring for patients in NYC jail, and as an advocate for humane drug policy. In light of #CloseRikers and efforts to transform jail-system, I wanted to share brief thread on jail dynamics. 1/

First, I want to remind people there is fundamental difference between jails & prisons. Jails city/county based & largely hold people detained pre-trial (many held in on bail). Most people do not know when they are leaving & unplanned release the norm. Key words: flux, chaos. 2/

In NYC in 2017, there were 37,000 people admitted to jail on new charge (not including technical violations of parole) w/ average 7,100 people held pre-trial in jail on any given day. Many leave within a week, but others stay for months to years. Key words again: flux, chaos. 3/

In striking stat, 23,000 people incarcerated in NYC jail were discharged within 7 days. This group is diverse, but often includes people in on low-level charges, those who couldn’t quite pay bail in time, & those for whom charges were dropped or who were ROR at 1st court date. 3/

This above reflects the “churn” of jails. The massive amount of “processing” of NYC residents done by the criminal justice system. Each of these people has their life thrown upside down, or their medical care disrupted. Lots done on health side to reduce that risk, but still. 4/

Preventing unnecessary short-term incarceration incredibly important from human dignity standpoint, health standpoint, cost standpoint. But it would have little impact on jail-census. In fact, had we never incarcerated that 23,000 in 2017, jail would only shrink by 165 beds! 5/

To say it again: NYC jail has 7,100 people detained pre-trial on any given day, yet to not have incarcerated the *23,000* who were there for < 7 days in 2017 would only shrink footprint by *165 beds* ... That is because it takes many short stays to equal just one long-stay. 6/

What this means is that if we’re serious about shrinking jail, we cannot rely solely on eliminating the churn (incredibly important on its own), we must also ⬇️ those held in for months to years pre-trial, the 1000s in on VOP & the use of city-sentences for low-level offenses. 7/

This data was gathered from NYC MOCJ report called, “Jail: Who is in on Bail?” — and can be found in full here.
Hope this was helpful. /fin

drive.google.com/open?id=1Qeduj…

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