Check out this
video about our Safety and Justice Challenge efforts and our
video on Warrant Resolution Court.
The Pima County Safety and Justice Challenge seeks to safely reduce over-incarceration by implementing innovative and common sense strategies and programs. Successful efforts so far include expanded risk screening for all misdemeanor defendants; additional mental health screening before initial court appearances; enhanced automated call, text and email court-date reminders; and weekend and weeknight court sessions for working people. Helping guide the Safety and Justice Challenge is a 33-member Community Collaborative made up of justice system partners and community representatives, including system involved individuals, victim advocates, clergy, and tribal members.
Learn more about the Pima County Safety and Justice Community Collaborative.
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Stories
07/19/2019 -- Warrant Resolution Court offers hope for clearing legal hurdles
Pima County Government
05/31/19 -- Temporary screening facility is big step forward in Pima County's effort to reduce jail population
Arizona Daily Star
05/19/19 -- Sizeable reduction of nonviolent drug offenders help secure $1.8M grant for Pima County
Arizona Daily Star
04/29/19 -- "In Their Shoes" Reentry Simulation
Pima County Government
04/20/19 -- Pima County finding ways to save by reducing jail population
Arizona Daily Star
04/02/19 -- Meeting the needs of individuals with substance use disorders: Strategies for law enforcementNational Association of Counties
03/30/19 -- New jail booking process to save money, keep those facing minor charges out of custody
Arizona Daily Star
03/25/19 -- Pima County leading the state in criminal justice reform efforts
Esmond Station Community Radio
03/25/19 -- New strategies seek to meet deadline to cut Pima County's jail population
Arizona Daily Star
03/18/19 -- Plan to reduce jail population
Telemundo Arizona
01/30/19 -- $8 Million to Advance Local Justice System Reforms
Safety and Justice Challenge
01/18/19 -- City, County sue pharmaceutical companies over opioid crisis
Tucson News Now
01/12/19 -- Pima County Criminal Justice agencies work toward reducing jail population
Arizona Daily Star
12/16/18 -- Mental health, substance use treatment on their way for Tucson's low-level offenders
Arizona Daily Star
12/14/18 -- Pima County seeking help to get homeless into housing and out of jail
Tucson News Now
11/22/18 -- America's crime problems being fed by a broken mental health system
American (In) Justice
11/15/18 -- Report finds disproportionate sentencing along racial lines in Arizona
AZ Central
11/13/18 -- Women's Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2018
PrisonPolicy.Org
10/12/18 -- $1.4M grant pairs Tucson police with drug counselors in effort to combat opioid crisis
Arizona Daily Star
10/02/18 -- Convicted felons in Arizona have tough time getting voting rights back
Tucson News Now
08/05/18 -- Law enforcement and mental health partnership pays dividends
Arizona Daily Star
07/10/18 -- The U.S. still incarcerates more people than any other country
CNN
07/06/18 -- Bail reform means safer communities, by Mary Mergler
Tribtalk.org
06/17/18 -- Pima County jail population on the decline as part of multi-million dollar grant
Arizona Daily Star
04/03/18 -- Michele's Journey - Mother During and After Incarceration
Arizona Public Media
03/15/18 -- Champions of Change
Safety and Justice Challenge
03/15/18 -- Less is more when it comes to putting people in jail
Arizona Capital Times
02/16/18 -- Panel explores second chances for former inmates
Pima County Government
02/07/18 -- Leffert's and Cramer : Jail alternatives can benefit all
Arizona Daily Star
01/17/18 -- Safety and Justice Challenge featured jurisdiction: Pima County, Arizona
National Association of Counties
01/10/18 -- Ducey delivers State of the State in Tucson
Tucson News Now
12/22/17 -- Community Collaborative members reflect on first year
Pima County Government
12/08/17 -- A 'Q and A' with a former inmate, member of Community Collaborative
Pima County Government
12/06/17 -- Tucson leaders discuss criminal justice system in summit hosted by The Atlantic
Arizona Daily Star
11/08/17 -- Crime victims now have serene space to retreat to at Pima County Superior Court
Arizona Daily Star
11/06/17 -- Arizona bans the box requiring a criminal history
Tucson News Now
11/05/17 -- Pima County Justice Court's warrant resolution program honored by state
Arizona Daily Star
10/12/17 -- From bank robber to law professor: A story of redemption
CBS News
10/09/17 -- Congress can help strengthen families and community by acting on criminal justice reform
The Hill
10/06/17 -- Justice Court, Tucson City Court participating in warrant resolution night
Tucson.com
10/04/17 -- MacArthur's Safety + Justice Challenge announces additional $11.3 million for eight jurisdictions to advance local criminal justice reform
Safety and Justice Challenge
09/2017 -- Opening doors
Vera Institute of Justice
09/21/17 -- Women, drugs and Arizona Prisons
Tucson News Now
09/20/17 -- How to fight modern-day debtors' prison? Sue the courts
The Marshall Project
08/25/17 -- Cash bail's lonely defender
NY Times
08/18/17 -- Logging in when you're locked up - tablets in jail
NEWS.AZPM.ORG
08/07/17 -- Study finds increased incarceration has marginal-to-zero impact on crime
Equal Justice Initiative
08/04/17 -- A traffic ticket shouldn't ruin your life
Pima County Government
08/02/17 -- Leaving prison, women often face a challenge men don't: motherhood
WAMU.ORG
07/27/17 -- Program helps mentally ill inmates get better
WPBF.COM
07/22/17 -- New Jersey eliminates most cash bail, leads nation in reforms
PBS
07/21/17 -- Active warrants fall to new lows in Tucson, Pima County Courts
Arizona Daily Star
07/21/17 -- Department of Labor awards $236,000 grant to Pima County to assist homeless veterans
Pima County Government
07/19/17 -- Defendants can't be jailed solely because of inability to post bail, judge says
NY Times
07/17/17 -- Proposed ACA cuts would endanger justice-involved people with disabilities
Vera Institute of Justice
07/17/17 -- A matter of time: the causes and consequences of rising time served in America's prisons
Urban Institute
07/17/17 -- Jail reform must address mental health, substance dependence
Arizona Capital Times
07/06/17 -- Rural America's Jail Dilemma
The Crime Report
06/20/17 -- Editorial by Chuck Huckelberry: Suspends driver's license laws criminalize poverty
Arizona Daily Star
06/14/17 -- Nuts and Bolts of Creating a Diversion Program Video
Pima County Safety + Justice Challenge
05/25/17 -- Keeping the jail population down
Tucson News Now
05/18/17 -- Tucson Police to be trained in handling mental health crisis calls
Arizona Daily Star
05/16-17/17 -- Decriminalizing Mental Illness Conference Video
Pima County Safety + Justice Challenge
04/29/17 -- Judge in Houston strikes down Harris County's bail system
Houstonia
04/27/17 -- Pima County to screen arrestees for behavioral health-issues
Arizona Daily Star
04/06/17 -- Saturday's Warrant Resolution event to include Justice Municipal Courts
Arizona Daily Star
04/05/17 -- Drug offenders celebrate graduation instead of enduring prison sentence
Tucson News Now
02/01/17 -- The Mental Health Investigative Support Team (MHIST) Model...
Psychiatry Online
02/01/17 -- MacArthur Foundation Press Release
Pima County Safety + Justice Challenge
11/09/16 -- Incoming Sheriff Mark Napier ready to get back into law enforcement
Arizona Daily Star
11/08/16 -- New Mexico votes to reform bail system that jails people just because they're poor
Huffingtonpost
10/08/16 -- $500k grant to fund job-training for Pima County jail inmates
Arizona Daily Star
10/04/16 -- Pima County major achievements over the past 20 years
Pima County
09/30/16 -- Felons in County jails to be allowed to vote in California elections
LA Times
09-10/16 -- Thousands of girls are locked up for talking back or staying out late
Mother Jones
09/02/16 -- Safety and Justice Challenge Announces Collaborative Members
Pima County Safety + Justice Challenge
09/02/16 -- The Unmaking of a Murderer
Barbara Sattler
08/30/16 -- Tucson's Mental Health Investigation Support Team...
IACP
08/29/16 -- Bail bond industry to fight change to 'no money' system
Arizona Capital Times
07/22/16 -- Rebuilding on the outside
Arizona Public Media
07/19/16 -- Virginia high courts hears republican voting-rights lawsuit
Reuters
07/18/16 -- The Harris County DA invites law-breaking citizens to make-it-right
Houstonia
07/11/16 -- Opposing protesters meet in Dallas
CNN
06/27/16 -- Justice Department mandates implicit bias training for agents, lawyers
Reuters
06/24/16 -- Pell grants for prisoners: Obama to give inmates a second chance at college
USA Today
06/2016 -- America's top five deadliest prosecutors: how overzealous personalities drive the death penalty
Fair Punishment Project
05/30/16 -- Pima County to present plans for reducing jail population
Arizona Daily Star
05/24/16 -- Have you ever been arrested?
The New York Times
05/11/16 -- Is America Engaged in a 'vicious circle' of jailing the poor?
National Public Radio (NPR)
D.C. Judge Truman A. Morrison to speak on bail reforms
Pima County announces 18-member Safety and Justice Challenge Community Collaborative
Arizona police sign on to the White House plan to cut jail populations
Efforts begin to reduce Pima County Jail population - Tucson News Now
Pima County to present plans to reduce jail population - Arizona Daily Star
Pima County goal: Reduce jail population in three years
$1.5 million grant to help Pima County reduce jail population - Arizona Public Media
Pima County receives prestigious grant to reduce jail population - Tucson News Now
Pima County awarded grant to reduce jail population
MacArthur Foundation bails out jurisdictions that jail too many - Huffington Post
$1.5 million grant to help reduce Pima jail population - Tucson Sentinel
Arizona Daily Star Story: Pima Seeks Grant to Cut Jail Population
Pima County participating in the MacArthur Foundation's Safety and Justice Challenge
County leaders hold community forum to discuss jail overcrowding
Discussions revolve around who is incarcerated, how to address inequities
Safety and Justice Challenge committee members discussion
Judge Davis encouraged by Pima County's efforts
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Facts and Stats
Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families
Each year, the United States spends $80 billion to lock away more than 2.4 million people in its jails and prisons, budgetary allocations that far outpace
spending on housing, transportation, and higher education.
Estimates report that nearly 40% of all crimes are directly attributable to poverty and the vast majority (80%) of incarcerated individuals are low-income.
More than 77 million Americans have a criminal record, meaning that almost one in three adults currently is or has been involved with the criminal justice system. Between 1970 and 2005, our prison
population increased 700 percent, largely as a result of the war on drugs.
Of the $80 billion spent on incarceration today, almost $50 billion comes from state spending alone.
Research has shown that upwards of 60% of formerly incarcerated people remain unemployed even one year after release; for many, finding stable employment is often unattainable even years after release.
According to a 2010 study, nearly three million children in America have at least one parent in prison, and children of color are far more likely than white children to have an incarcerated parent.
Incarceration has devastating physical, mental, and emotional health impacts on individuals, including those who already faced health problems before entering the system. People who are incarcerated are also likely to suffer from higher rates of chronic disease.
Currently, six out of ten incarcerated individuals in the United States are held in pretrial detention without convictions. In some states, this number is as high as 62% of the county jail population.
Beyond Mental Illness
For people with mental illness in jail, their illness is often at the center of several interrelated problems.
A Bureau of Justice Statistics study published in 2006 – the most recent national study of its kind – showed that people with mental illnesses in jail are more likely than others to experience homelessness, unemployment, and substance abuse.*
Seventeen percent of people with mental illness in jail were homeless in the year before their arrest, compared to 9 percent of the rest of the jail population.
Nearly a third of the people in jail with mental illnesses were unemployed in the month before arrest, compared to less than a quarter of the rest of the jail population.
Thirty-four percent of people with mental illness in jail were using drugs at the time of their arrest compared to 20 percent of the rest of the jail population. Fifteen percent of people with mental illnesses were using both drugs and alcohol at the time of their arrest compared to 7 percent of the rest of the jail population.
*Doris J. James and Lauren Glaze, Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates (Washington, D.C. US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2006); p.4.
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Photos
Pima County Corrections Chief India Davis leads a table discussion during a Safety & Justice Challenge Community Conversation
hosted by the YWCA and the Safety & Justice Planning Team on Oct. 26, 2015.
See more photos.
Jessie Warner, an associate with Justice System Partners, takes notes during a discussion on local data gathered through the Safety and Justice Challenge.
See more photos.
Senior Judge Andre Davis of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals discusses “Racial and Ethnic Equality in the Criminal Justice System" as part of Pima County's participation in the Safety and Justice Challenge.
See more photos.