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About  |  Why  | How It Works |  Statistics ​| Donate

Hamilton County, Tennessee


Calendar

A pretrial detainee can wait  4-14 days  between magistrate’s bond setting to initial appearance in General Session’s Court. Four days is the typical wait, however it could be up to 14 days pursuant to law. 1

After initial court appearance, a detainee or defendant can wait  8-10 weeks  for a Grand Jury decision
or up to 1-2 years on average for jury trial or disposition of the case(s). 2
Pre-COVID-19 averages.

Dollar Bills

County taxpayers pay $63,000 daily or about $23 million annually on average to house pretrial inmates, people who have not been convicted of any crime and presumed innocent.3
This number excludes federal inmates awaiting trial in our jails.


The projected cost of the initial Silverdale expansion is $20-30 million.4
"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."5

Empty wallet

Each month, 500 pretrial defendants are appointed by judges to the Public Defender’s Office on average, because they were found indigent.
Sometimes indigent defendants make bond by third parties.
About 50% of these appointees are charged with misdemeanor crimes.6

Hands holding chain link fence

There were on average  760 pretrial detainees  housed in Hamilton County Jail and Silverdale Detention Facility each month in 2020. The number decreased significantly with this spring's COVID-19 release, but by November and December, there were almost 1000 pretrial individuals. Of those, about 385 were charged only with misdemeanors.
This number excludes federal inmates awaiting trial in our jails.7
.

bar graph

In 2015, Hamilton County had 28th highest pretrial incarceration rate of the 258 counties in the U.S. with populations over 100,000.8

Sources:                                     Jump to top of statistics
1. Mike Little, Deputy Public Defender, Hamilton County- On 6/23/20, he confirmed 2019 statistics were basically unchanged from 2018.
2. M. Little
3. Calculated using $100k Source and 2020 TN Jail Summary Reports.
4. Commission votes to put Hamilton County Sheriff's Office in charge of Silverdale. Chattanooga Times Free Press, 9/7/17.
5. Hamilton County Commission Hears Presentation on Future Jail Needs". Chattanooga Times Free Press. 4/31/17.
6. M. Little
7. Calculated using 2019 TN Jail Summary Reports.
8. Calculated using most current dataset available from the Vera Institute of Justice.

 About *66% (490,000) of the confined inmates were awaiting court action on a current charge.
* in county and local jails, mid-year 2018                         
Source: Jail Inmates in 2018. Zeng, Bureau of Justice Statistics, March 2020
© 2021 ​CALEB - Chattanoogans in Action for Love, Equality and Benevolence
  • Updates
  • About
    • Member Organizations
    • Affiliations
  • Bail Funds
    • Community Bail Fund
    • Immigration Bond Fund
  • Criminal Justice
    • Task Force Overview
    • End Cash Bail
    • Public Campaigns
    • Projects
    • Hamilton County Fact Sheet
  • Economic Mobility
    • Task Force Overview
    • CBAs
    • #DevelopWithUs Campaign
    • DevelopWithUs Candidate Forums
    • CLT Feasibility Study
  • Education
    • Task Force Overview
    • Restorative Practices
    • Candidate Forums
    • District Issues Videos
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • Vote
  • Events
  • Training