The program was initiated in June 2021 when Travis County officials submitted a grant application to the Texas A&M Public Policy Research Institute—a research organization that designs projects and evaluates the effectiveness of government programs—to fund the program. A $500,000 grant was approved, and the program was launched in partnership with the Capital Area Private Defender Service—an organization that provides legal representation to people who cannot afford a lawyer. The program officially began April 8 but was paused only 13 days later due to Travis County Sheriff's Office staffing shortages in central booking.
The program was launched in an effort to keep arrested individuals from serving unnecessary jail time. When an arrested person goes to magistrate court, it is their first and best opportunity to avoid incarceration, according to CAPDS Executive Director Bradley Hargis. However, without counsel at first appearance, the legal process slows, leaving arrestees more susceptible to serving jail time.
“It reduces our jail population when we are able to [give counsel at first appearance], when we are able to get people out. But more importantly, it returns those people to the community much sooner,” Hargis said.
Hargis said the biggest impact of counsel at first appearance is the ability to adjust bond amounts and bond conditions. Hargis said in the short period of time the program was running, the CAPDS found numerous charges that were felonies that should have been misdemeanors.
“I personally worked on one of those,” Hargis said. “It resulted in a [$100] bond and the person [was] able to get out that evening.”
Without counsel at first appearance, that scenario might have played out very differently, according to Hargis. The arrested person may have had a “many-thousand dollar” bond and would have had to spend days in jail before an attorney could have discovered the error later, he said.
“Incarcerating a person is very disruptive—to them, to their family, to their employer.” Hargis said, adding that when the incarceration process takes 3-4 days, it causes jobs to be lost as the person tally’s up no-call, no-show counts.
While the program was showing promise during its short lifetime, according to Hargis, issues with space and staffing at the Travis County Sheriff's Office stretched employees too thin to be able to maintain the program.
Staffing shortages are most prevalent in booking—the department responsible for creating official arrest records. According to Captain Maria Velasquez, in April, Travis County Sheriff's Officers had 17 vacancies in booking, and as of July 19 they have 23.
“We continue to lose people, and that has a direct impact on our ability to be able to do these other responsibilities,” Velasquez said.
The Travis County jail faces many hurdles related to understaffing. The jail is becoming overcrowded with 2,303 inmates compared to around 1,400 inmates they had before COVID-19. According to Velasquez, 141 of those inmates are waiting to go to a hospital for treatment, and they still have COVID-19 patients in the facility.
“It has made the job a lot more stressful than it’s been in the past,” she said.
Velasquez said Travis County officers are committed to working with the CAPDS in the future, but they do not have the staff to continue on with the program.
“We’ve all got to do what we can to fill these positions,” Commissioner Ann Howard said.
Travis County commissioners, sheriff’s officers and CAPDS officials plan to meet again in two weeks to discuss solutions to maintain the program.
