Travis County is requesting assistance with analyzing and addressing the rising jail population and to better understand the increase of racial and ethnic minority bookings. They need assistance with reviewing their current law enforcement practices and to further their knowledge in the increase of minority arrests. By updating the SIM and jail booking data, Travis County will be able to identify effective pre-arrest/pre-booking strategies for implementation. The desired outcome of the TTA is for the selected provider to lead stakeholders through best practices for reviewing of current diversion strategies and develop a strategic plan.
In 2018, Travis County commissioned a study through the Council of State Governments (CSG), analyzing race and ethnicity of Travis County jail bookings with an emphasis on state jail felonies and drug possession charges. The study noted that arrests (the point at which one enters the justice system) of racial and ethnic minorities were disproportionate to their representation in the local population. Some key recommendations included reviewing law enforcement practices to better understand why low-level drug possession arrests are up and why they are disparate for racial and ethnic minorities. The study also recommended reviewing community concerns about drug abuse, medical, and mental health and whether there are sufficient alternatives to arrest exist to address these concerns. The study also reported that even though overall bookings have decreased, there was a 34% increase in state jail felony drug charges. It found the Black/African American population was disproportionately represented in jail, making up 24% of all jail bookings and 27% of all state jail felonies in 2016, while making up 8% of the population in Travis County according to the 2016 U.S. Census. Hispanic/Latino (31%) and White (44%) populations were underrepresented in jail bookings, making up 34% and 49% of the Travis County population, respectively.
Overall, the number of custodial jail bookings into Travis County jails has decreased 28%, from 53,768 in fiscal year 2013 to 42,067 in fiscal year (FY) 2018. The decrease in jail bookings can be attributed to a reduction in misdemeanor charges booked into jail. Class C misdemeanor charges alone decreased 37% between FY2013 and FY2018. Conversely, there have been a recent increase in felony bookings; between FY2016 and FY2018 there was an increase in first degree (34%) and second degree (28%) felonies. The increase in felony bookings are one of the contributors to increases in average daily population (ADP) and average length of stay (ALOS). The ADP for the Travis County Jail increased 10% from FY2013 (2,284) to FY2017 (2,513), experiencing historical highs in the months of June 2016 (2,651) and January 2017 (2,589). The ADP was also affected to a degree by the increased ALOS for the female jail population due to the felony charges.
Travis County recognized the need to address the rising jail population, and studied ways to address the issue. Jail booking data revealed that there were opportunities to divert low-level misdemeanors from jail and save jail bed days. Efforts to address the misdemeanor jail population have been successful, but Travis County recognizes there are issue areas that still require targeted technical assistance and expertise. For instance, Possession of a Controlled Substance less than a gram was a top charge for the State Jail Felony bookings from 2013-2018; this specific charge accounted for 5% of all female bookings in FY2018. In particular, minority women are disproportionately represented in state jail felony jail bookings. Black/African American women were booked for this offense at a rate twice higher per capita than White women and four times higher than Hispanic/Latino women. On average, Black/African American women stayed in jail almost twice as long as White women and three times as long as Hispanic/Latino women.
These findings are comparable to the Community Advancement Network (CAN) reports produced on an annual basis. CAN found that Black individuals are 3.3 times more likely to be booked into the Travis County Jail than White individuals. CAN set a goal of proportionate jail bookings for all race and ethnicities, but hasn’t addressed how Travis County would move forward to achieve proportionality. Further work and subject matter expertise is needed to achieve a more equitable system.
If selected to receive technical assistance from BJA NTTAC, Travis County will convene a series of stakeholder meetings (face-to-face, remote, or a combination), facilitated by our TA provider. The desired outcome of these meetings is to lead stakeholders through a best practice review of diversion strategies; reach consensus on shared values and common goals; and develop a strategic plan with steps to bring about needed change. Travis County also requests assistance with updating our Sequential Intercept Model, or SIM, with a focus on pre-arrest/pre-booking intercepts. The technical assistance provider can help with identifying data (jail, health, etc.) that needs to be collected and analyzed. By updating the SIM, Travis County will be more easily able to identify effective pre-arrest/pre-booking strategies for implementation.
Our local stakeholders are:
• Austin Police Department
• Austin-Travis County Sobering Center
• Behavioral Health Criminal Justice Advisory Committee
• Capital Area Private Defender Service
• Central Health
• ECHO (Ending Community Homelessness Coalition)
• Grassroots Leadership
• Integral Care (the local mental health authority)
• Mental Health Public Defender Office
• Texas Appleseed
• Texas Criminal Justice Coalition
• Travis County Community Justice Services, Pretrial Services and Adult Probation
• Travis County Attorney’s Office
• Travis County Clerk
• Travis County Criminal Court Judges (County and District)
• Travis County Criminal Courts Administration
• Travis County District Attorney’s Office
• Travis County District Clerk
• Travis County Intergovernmental Relations
• Travis County Justice Planning
• Travis County Planning and Budget Office
• Travis County Sheriff’s Office
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Technical assistance is needed to provide data-driven policy that will focus on stakeholder engagement, assistance with data access, collection and analysis, identifying appropriate target populations, performance measure design, and evaluation design. We will also require technical assistance to research and implement data sharing agreements with our stakeholders.
Please submit a signed letter of support from your agency’s executive or other senior staff member. The letter can be emailed to or uploaded with this request. The letter should be submitted on official letterhead and include the following information:
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- The organizational and/or community needs specific to the request for TTA services.
- The benefits or anticipated outcomes from the receipt of TTA services.
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