Report says most Hamilton County inmates stay behind bars through the end of their case

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Just how many Hamilton County inmates are staying behind bars while awaiting trial?

A new report says, most of them.

The Chattanoogans for Love, Equality, and Benevolence, or CALEB for short, has been advocating for inmate rights in Hamilton County for some time.

Monday, they released the results of a years-long study on how many inmates are being held pre-trial.

They say 63 percent of them see their cases end before seeing the outside world again.

After looking at years of arrest and detention data at the Hamilton County Jail, lead researcher Avery Fairburn says that the data showing most inmates are being held until their trial is concerning.

Fairburn said, “We all have this shared goal of making our community safer for everybody, but we have found is that is not what is happening right now.”

CALEB’s research shows that of those being held until their trial, half of them are not being given a bond, while the other half are unable to make bond.

Fairburn said, “Those third of people who had been detained their entire case with a bond had been deemed eligible, and had been deemed to be safe for release if they could pay. So we know those people in a perfect world would be released if they could pay since they were deemed safe to release but couldn’t pay to access it.”

Fairburn also says this issue is being exaggerated by a lack of transparency in the magistrate and judicial systems.

Fairburn said, “When you see a magistrate for the first time, you will go into a small room or maybe even be on a phone with them, which is something that has been reported a lot lately.”

In their report, CALEB claims that county officials, including the Sheriff’s Office, did not share certain public documents with them when requested through a records request.

They also said this issue is magnified by several deaths at the jail, and disputed the county’s claim that most defendants are released within 24 hours of arriving at the jail.

The Sheriff’s Office sent us the following statement:

“The claims made in CALEB’s report are in no way connected to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office. Per state statute, the Sheriff’s Office is charged with accepting all persons lawfully committed into the jail, and keeping them until they are discharged by law; decisions relating to bail and pretrial release rest with the magistrates and members of the judiciary. Therefore, if any issues exist at all, the HCSO would not be the proper party to address concerning CALEB’s claims.

Further, despite CALEB’s allegation early in the report that the Sheriff’s Office lacked transparency with respect to the data it releases, this Office sent CALEB Project Manager, Avery Fairburn, the data used to create this report, and, further, the HCSO publishes an annual report highlighting crime statistics in Hamilton County and provides a publicly available database. 

The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office remains committed to serving the people of Hamilton County and leading the way in the delivery of law enforcement services. That said, the scope of this Office does not include the ability to make decisions concerning bail, release, nor convictions.”

Fairburn says that CALEB would like to see two specific actions for Hamilton County to take in order to curb pretrial detentions.

One is citation and release, which encourages law enforcement to only issue citations instead of arresting individuals for minor offenses.

The other is automatic pre-trial release, which asks for inmates facing misdemeanors or non-violent offenses to be released without bail while awaiting trial.

Fairburn said, “With citation and release, that is about stopping this kind of machine like process at the beginning… We recommend that the county implement automatic pre-trial release which is something that Knox and Shelby Counties have implemented… Those people who do qualify instead of having a bond hearing, are out on their recognizance.”

Fairburn argues their suggestions are not meant to reduce public safety, but to enhance it.

“The system that we have now doesn’t take into account the severity of people’s charges, doesn’t take into account the circumstances of their case,” Fairburn said

In the past, the chief magistrate of Hamilton County has denied previous criticisms from CALEB, saying their office is in compliance with federal law.