Austin City Council members passed a resolution Thursday that could lead to more indigent criminal defendants getting released from jail while they wait for their cases to be resolved.
The measure could also pave the way for defense attorneys to be present at their clients’ bail-setting hearings, a measure that the county looked into last year but could not get done.
The resolution alone did not make any significant changes; instead, it aligned the city with Travis County on many criminal justice reform initiatives while setting the table for additional discussions at an upcoming working group meeting between city and county representatives.
The meeting — which was scheduled for February but did not take place and has not been rescheduled — will address changes to an existing interlocal agreement that allows Travis County to use Austin Municipal Court judges at magistration hearings.
Magistrates determine probable cause for an arrest and decide whether to release a suspect on a low-cost personal bond, which often is the only plausible way for someone without the means to post cash bail to get out of jail.
Thursday’s resolution calls for magistrates to “release arrested persons on personal bond whenever the magistrate determines it appropriate under the law.” It followed standing orders issued by Travis County’s criminal court judges earlier this year that granted automatic personal bonds to defendants with some exceptions, including when they’re arrested while out on bond.
Many judges lately have issued more personal bonds than usual to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the Travis County Jail. The inmate population on Wednesday was 1,626, down by 30% from that same day last year.
“We all want to decrease our jail population and have more progressive reforms to our pretrial detention policies,” Council Member Delia Garza said of the city’s relationship with the county.
The resolution was sponsored by council members Greg Casar, Jimmy Flannigan, Natasha Harper-Madison and Garza, who is running for Travis County Attorney, the county’s top misdemeanor prosecutor.
Garza finished second in the Democratic primary in March, advancing to a runoff against Laurie Eiserloh that has been delayed from May to July because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus at voting locations.
The resolution passed almost unanimously, with Council Member Leslie Pool abstaining, though an amendment she proposed was added to dig further into the cost of some of the proposals, including funding for a public defender to appear at magistration.
The county last year considered adding an around-the-clock magistrate attorney to its public defender’s office, but decided it could not afford the more than $4 million that it would have cost to hire one. The public defender is scheduled to begin taking cases next year.
A work group aimed at exploring who is in the Travis County Jail and why has been directed by the county commissioners to develop and file a grant application with the Texas Indigent Defense Commission to fund a pilot program for defense attorneys at magistration. Thursday’s council resolution puts the city on board with that plan.
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