The efforts being set in 2019 to keep some criminal offenders out of jail — recovery court and bond reform — are the No. 6 of the year:

In November, the 2^nd Judicial District officials announced a plan for Recovery Court, a new program that will focus on helping defendants with substance abuse problems find the treatment they need.

“Courts around the nation have determined that when you have a substance use disorder, providing treatment is the most effective way of getting clean and sober people, versus putting them in jail,” Chief District Court Judge Regina Parker said at the time. “They’ll go there for a minute, come out and go right back to using. So it’s just a revolving door of committing crimes and things of that nature.”

The new recovery court is slated to start up by the end of January and serve the entire 2nd Judicial District, which includes Beaufort, Martin, Washington, Hyde and Tyrrell counties. While one court will be based in Beaufort County, also serving Martin County, a second in Washington County will serve both Hyde and Tyrrell counties. Recovery court will serve up to 30 participants at a time; after pleading guilty in court, they’ll be referred to recovery court, where they will undergo an intensive regiment of treatment and counseling, including home visits, curfews, drug testing and regular meetings with a probation officer. The state will supply no money for recovery court, instead the initial funding will come from a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Bureau of Justice and financial support from each of the five counties served by the program.

Going hand in hand with recovery court is another effort to keep people out of jail: those who are only in jail because they can’t afford bond. While bond reform is sweeping the nation, and the 2^nd Judicial District is leading the way in North Carolina.

Bond reform means that magistrates will no longer set bond based solely on the class of crime. Instead, they will be tasked with deciding whether a person charged should be given bond or released with no bond depending on a flow chart. For Class 3 misdemeanors, the recommendation will be for magistrates to impose a written promise, a custody release (releasing to another person who takes responsibility for the inmate showing up for court) or unsecured bond. For those with Class 2-A1 misdemeanors up to Class F-I felonies, magistrates will employ a checklist containing statements such as “Defendant has a history of FTAs,” “Defendant has a prior record of felony conviction; misdemeanor convictions within the last five years demonstrating a pattern;” “Charged offense requires sex offender registration;” “Charged offense is a drug trafficking offense;” and more. if any box is checked, or the person is charged with a class A-E felony, a magistrate will be required to determine if there’s a chance that person will not appear in court; he poses a danger of injury to another person, including himself, or his release will likely result in destruction of evidence, persuading people to lie in court for him or intimidation of witnesses, then a secured bond will be recommended.

The reform does not give those charged with serious crimes a free pass. Instead, it will better determine who needs to be released and who needs to be detained on an individual basis.

“It makes them look at this person and answer these questions. If they do not apply, then it’s a non-financial (outcome),” Chief District Court Judge Regina Parker said earlier this month. “This flow chart is really going to help our magistrates focus in on the exact information they need to make a good, informed decision on each bond. … Our whole point is to make sure that people aren’t penalized for being poor. It’s an appearance bond — you just want them to appear (in court).”

Without the means to pay, those charged with minor crimes sometimes spend more days in jail waiting for their court dates than the maximum sentence for the crime they’ve allegedly committed. According to Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Wayland Sermons Jr., the overriding desire to get out of jail has also led to guilty pleas once a court date arrives, not because a person is guilty, but because they don’t want to spend more time in jail while awaiting trial.

“They just want to plead guilty and get out,” Sermons said. “It happens a lot in District Court — they just want to plead guilty and (say) ‘Let me go back to work.’”