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"Two thirds of the jail population and one quarter of the total incarcerated population consist of pretrial detainees."
"The Economics of Bail and Pretrial Detention" 12/18

Hamilton County

500 pretrial inmates/month 

Average monthly number of pretrial inmates appointed by judges to the Public Defender’s Office because they were found indigent (Sometimes indigent defendants make bond by third parties).
Source: Mike Little, Deputy Public Defender, Hamilton County (source for next three county statistics as well)

About 50% misdemeanant appointees

Approximately 50% of defendants appointed by judges to the Public Defender’s Office are charged with misdemeanors and the other half with felonies.
​

4-14 days

Typical length of time between magistrate’s bond setting to initial appearance in General Session’s Court is four days, however it could be up to 14 days pursuant to law. 

8 weeks to 2 years

After this initial court appearance, a detainee or defendant on bond can wait 8-10 weeks for a Grand Jury decision. ​A detainee or defendant on bond can wait up to 1-2 years on average for jury trial or disposition of the case(s).

858 pretrial detainees

Monthly average of total pretrial detainees, both felons and misdemeanants, in Hamilton County Jail and Silverdale Detention Facility in 2018. This number excludes federal inmates awaiting trial.
Calculated using TN Jail Summary Reports. 

386 pretrial misdemeanants

Monthly average of pretrial detainees with misdemeanor charges, in Hamilton County Jail and Silverdale Detention Facility in 2018. 
Calculated using TN Jail Summary Reports.

28th of 258 counties 

Hamilton County had 28th highest pretrial incarceration rate of the 258 counties with populations over 100,000 in 2015 (most current statistics available).
Calculated using dataset from the Vera Institute of Justice

$94,000 - $97,000 per day

"We're spending about $94,000 to $97,000 dollars a day just to house prisoners.”   as stated by Sheriff Jim Hammond  
Commissioners approve mental health program at Hamilton County jail, WCRBtv.com, 1/16/19

$20-30 million

Projected cost of initial Silverdale expansion.
"The move marks the first step in phasing out the downtown Chattanooga jail . . . including the possibility of moving some court systems along with the inmates to the Silverdale area in order to reduce transportation costs."

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Tennessee

View complete Tennessee Profile  from Prison Policy Initiative. (Firefox browser is recommended.)
  Images/graphs above used with permission from: Prison Policy Initiative

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United States

​      *Pre-trial detainees   

65%

In county and city jails - 2016
Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2018

20%

In state and federal prisons
(pre-trial/remand prisoners) - 2015
World Prison Brief - United States

+PRETRIAL DETAINEE is the "term applied to the defendant who is held prior to their trial on criminal charges because no bail is posted or is denied a pre-trial release." Black's Law Dictionary
​*"The number of pre-trial/remand prisoners fluctuates from day to day, month to month and year to year. . . an indication of the trend." World Prison Brief

Sources:
1. Mike Little, Deputy Public Defender, Hamilton County ​
2. M. Little
3. Calculated using $97k of the  $94,000-$97,000/day cost as stated by Sheriff Hammond and  2018 TN Jail Summary Reports.
​4. Calculated using $97k of the $94,000-$97,000/day cost as stated by Sheriff Hammond and 2018 TN Jail Summary Reports.
5. Commission votes to put Hamilton County Sheriff's Office in charge of Silverdale. Chattanooga Times Free Press, 9/7/17.
6. Hamilton County Commission Hears Presentation on Future Jail Needs. Chattanooga Times Free Press. 4/31/17.
7. M. Little
8. Calculated using 2018 TN Jail Summary Reports. 
9. Calculated using dataset from the Vera Institute of Justice.

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Test Your Knowledge of American Incarceration
(interactive graphics) New York Times, 12/21/18
"[C]heck your knowledge of the American criminal justice system and how the First Step Act fits in."

NAACP Criminal Justice Fact Sheet

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Video credit: Vlogbrothers
Thanks to Visually (http://Visual.ly) for facilitating the creation of this video, to http://youtube.com/kurzgesagt for the animation, and to The Prison Policy Initiative for research help and fact checking. (http://www.prisonpolicy.org