Beaufort County courts rush to release nonviolent offenders as coronavirus spreads
The coronavirus is quickly transforming Beaufort County’s criminal justice system as law enforcement, defendants’ advocates, prosecutors, and judges weigh the risks of public safety against the public health.
In an effort to prevent coronavirus spread and to avoid clogging local jails, S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald Beatty has postponed most court sessions until May and ordered that “any person charged with a non-capital crime shall be ordered released pending trial.”
14th Circuit Chief Administrative Judge Carmen Mullen —who oversees five counties including Beaufort and Jasper counties—now confers with the solicitor and chief public defender every week to decide which nonviolent offenders arrested that week can be let out of jail on bond. Crimes considered “nonviolent” in nature include shoplifting, marijuana possession and fraud , among others.
The biggest such release came after Beatty’s order on March 16. The 14th Judicial Circuit’s Public Defender’s Office provided approximately 80 names from Beaufort County and 40 from Jasper County of offenders who were not a risk to their communities, according to Stephanie Smart-Gittings, Chief Public Defender for the 14th Circuit.
In Colleton County, 80 names were listed. Allendale County had 70 names. In Hampton County, 20 names were provided, she said.
Mullen then approved their release from detention and assigned them a bond over the course of March 20 to March 23, said Smart-Gittings.
“My concern is the spread of coronavirus, limiting clients in detention centers,(and) the impact on employees of detention centers who are at risk,” said Smart-Gittings. “Our goal is minimizing the cost to the taxpayer and minimizing the health risk.”
Court in the time of coronavirus
Police are obviously still arresting and filing charges against those who break the law. Those cases still head to court for a bond to be set; but now, in the midst of the pandemic, without any likelihood of a trial happening anytime soon.
Beatty asked local judges to increase what’s called “personal recognizance bonds,” which allow defendants to be freed without having to pay that bond immediately. Such bonds also ensure suspects will come back for their hearing when court resumes.
Most offenders are expected to get such a bond unless the defendant poses “an unreasonable danger” or is likely to flee the state. The 120 nonviolent offenders in Beaufort and Jasper counties decided on by the 14th Circuit’s Solicitor and Public Defender all received “PR” bonds.
Approximately 150 offenders have been released from the Beaufort County Detention Center after receiving such bonds from March 16 to March 31, according to Philip Foot, Beaufort County’s Assistant County Administrator of Public Safety. Foot oversees the county’s detention center.
He estimates that the detention center normally averages 70 bookings a week of defendants and 60 releases a week.
Despite that, the increased emphasis on the release of nonviolent offenders on bonds is still striking because of its coordination within nearly every level of the local criminal justice system.
With the suspension of jury trials in an effort to limit person-to-person contact and slow the spread of coronavirus, suspects in violent crimes remain in jail while awaiting their day in court.
The only exception is “emergency hearing” requests, which are at the discretion of the chief administrative judge. Prosecutors are now spending much of their time preparing for trials that are months away, securing guilty pleas, and trying to keep “dangerous” defendants detained, according to 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone.
S.C. justice officials are aware of the potential impact of a coronavirus outbreak in a jail. In New York City, more than 800 inmates are currently in quarantine.
Still, Stone said his office is monitoring for any upticks in crime and is staying focused on prosecuting above all else.
“People want to be safe from a pandemic. They also want to be safe from dangerous people,” said Stone. “We don’t want to trade one risk to public safety for another.”
How do you social distance in jail?
Stone said the recent push statewide to keep nonviolent offenders out of jails could be attributed to a letter sent by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in South Carolina to more than 400 state criminal justice officials in early March.
The group urged solicitors and judges across the state to limit pretrial detention “in all but the very few cases where pretrial detention is absolutely the least restrictive means necessary to ensure a person’s return to court or public safety.”
But Stone says “that’s not my agenda” when it comes to prosecuting crimes. He also said the ACLU’s coronavirus policy matches what the group was pushing for prior to the pandemic: getting people out of jail.
Susan Dunn, legal director of ACLU in South Carolina, warns that the risk of coronavirus spread is extremely high in detention centers.
“In jail, there is no social distancing,” she said.
She notes there has been a “lessening” of detentions in the state as criminal justice officials contend with coronavirus.
“Detention is not up. The bond-setting judges are really letting people out. It does make it hard to get a sense if arrests are up or down,” said Dunn. “I’m fearful police are going to do what they do just because they can.”
She urges law enforcement to consider the potential coronavirus risk with every arrest.
On the prison side, Dunn said the ACLU is urging the governor to release inmates who are especially susceptible to coronavirus, such as those who are above a certain age or have served an “appropriate” amount of their sentence.
The group is asking the governor because the South Carolina Department of Corrections doesn’t have the power to release inmates early.
The department has “no statutory or other authority for releasing inmates based upon the COVID-19 pandemic. SCDC is charged by statute with enforcing the sentences of the courts, and we have no power to shorten or amend an inmate’s sentence,” said a statement from Chrysti Shain, SCDC’s director of communications.
The department is taking some steps, however, in terms of protecting inmates from the coronavirus.
“SCDC is working hard to keep medically fragile inmates away from the general population,” the statement said.
The ACLU requested more transparency from the governor’s office after the SCDC confirmed Friday a corrections officer from a Columbia prison tested positive for coronavirus.
Across the state’s prison system, four SCDC employees have tested positive and no inmates have.
At Ridgeland Correctional Institution in Jasper County, no employees or inmates have tested positive for the virus, said Shain. There are no prisons in Beaufort County.
Enforcing the law
In Beaufort County, police arrests have seen a slight “drop-off,” according to Foot. Detention center bookings for March are at 278, compared to 323 in February; 302 in January; and 305 in December, according to data from the detention center.
Some are worried there will be a significant logjam because of the increasing number of bonds issued in the 14th Circuit and because of postponed trials. Jim Brown, a criminal defense attorney based in Beaufort, said he’s seen a history of backlogs in court cases in the 14th Circuit.
He warns that if the coronavirus keeps courts closed into the summer, all of these cases “will bounce back like a rubber band ball.”
Smart-Gittings notes it is “very possible” that a significant backlog will accumulate if coronavirus stretches on, but she says that number will be offset by “law enforcement not arresting as much.”
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said the coronavirus threat in detention centers has made no difference in how law enforcement is operating locally.
“We are enforcing the law with compassion for people. This is a hard time,” said Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Bob Bromage. “We have received a high level of cooperation from the general public. We appreciate that cooperation.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 12:45 PM.
