Following waves of calls for changes to the criminal justice system, Pennsylvania’s top fiscal watchdog is making recommendations on how to do that. He unveiled a special report earlier today, one that he started several months ago before the civil unrest began.

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale’s special report focuses on the events that occur to a person following an arrest and charges are filed. He’s issuing reform recommendations to not only make the criminal justice system fairer for all but to also save taxpayer dollars.

“Enacting criminal justice reforms can produce big savings, big taxpayer savings for Pennsylvania taxpayers while creating a more equitable approach to enforcing our laws,” DePasquale says.

According to the Auditor General, Pennsylvania taxpayers spent $2.6 billion to incarcerate 46,000 people during the 2008-2009 fiscal year. He says despite recent positive reforms, such as the Clean Slate Law passed last year, Pennsylvania still has significant incarceration rates. 

“On a global scale, our state’s incarceration rate is much higher than that of oppressive regimes such as Russia, Iran, and even Turkey. Pennsylvania has an even higher incarceration rate than the United States as a whole,” explains DePasquale.

The state’s prison population and crime rate have fallen steadily since the passage of the Justice Reinvestment Act in 2012. According to the Auditor General, it’s also saved taxpayers an estimated $534 million on incarcerations.

“It shows we can reform our criminal justice system in a way that saves lives and at the same exact time keep our communities safe,” says DePasquale.

For his special report released Tuesday, the Auditor General’s team solicited input from various stakeholders, who identified needed reform in three main areas: before, during, and after incarceration.

The biggest reforms in the pre-trial phase include providing defense funding for low-income offenders and eliminating cash bail for non-violent offenders. Right now, Pennsylvania is the only state that doesn’t provide funding for defendants that can’t afford a lawyer.

“For our criminal justice system to work effectively, people need quality representation. If people don’t have quality representation and end up incarcerated because they didn’t have a good lawyer, that is not only poor execution of justice, but it is also going to cost taxpayers money,” DePasquale explains.

DePasquale’s report also says requiring low-income offenders to post cash bail can be problematic. He says cash bail should be eliminated for non-violent offenders.

“Cash bail often results in low-income defendants being incarcerated prior to trial, which not only means innocent people end up behind bars, but it also drives additional costs to taxpayers,” says DePasquale.

Reforms recommended during incarceration include increasing spending on things like physical and mental health care, as well as education and workforce training. Changes recommended for post-incarceration include reforms to the probation and parole system, as well as pardons and clemency.

“We can treat people more equitably while saving millions of dollars, and doing it in a way that also keeps our communities safe,” says DePasquale.

Some of the recommendations made in the special report require legislative approval. That’s exactly what members of the Legislative Black Caucus were calling for Monday on the House floor.

“We as legislators must work together to ensure that the rights and liberties of all Pennsylvanians are granted,” says Rep. Stephen Kinsey, Chair of the PA Legislative Black Caucus.

DePasquale made 18 total recommendations in his special report. Here’s the full list: 

1.    The General Assembly should follow the recommendations from the 2011 Joint State Government Commission report on how Pennsylvania can provide an effective indigent defense system.

2.    Magisterial District Justices (MDJs, or local-level judges) should be trained on the current disparities and harmful outcomes of the cash bail system.

3.    Any use of a risk assessment tool to determine pre-trial detention should be balanced by the use of a needs assessment tool to determine what basic human needs a person has – such as the need for food, shelter or clothing — to be released pre-trial and not reoffend.

4.    Court officials must work with police, district attorneys, public defenders, health bureau officials, probation/parole officers and more to create robust systems that identify as early as possible those defendants who need help, not punishment, to prevent them from committing new crimes.

5.    County courts that have not done so should implement diversionary courts, especially those for drug treatment, mental health and veterans.

6.    All county prisons should adopt the recommendations made in the July 2019 Council of State Government’s Justice Center’s report on treating defendants with serious mental illness.

7.    The state Department of Corrections should continue expanding the Medication Assisted Treatment programs and share how such programs are affecting relapse and recidivism rates among reentrants.

8.    County commissioners and county prison boards should work together to standardize medical services based on best practices. For example, labor and delivery policies should be standardized so that a consistent level of care and safety is present across the state and so that care is guaranteed in case of complications.

9.    At the state and county level, policies governing health care in prison should prioritize continuity of care.

10. At the state and county level, screenings for mental health histories, substance abuse histories and sexually transmitted diseases should be automatically performed at intake.

11. At the state and county level, accessible resources should be provided about health care in prison — a pamphlet in English is not accessible to all; there should be forms at the ready for whoever needs those resources, including counseling opportunities.

12. Congress should expand the Second Chance Pell Program and provide for more federal student aid in prisons.

13. The General Assembly should pass a law ensuring that people with criminal records cannot be automatically disqualified from obtaining professional licenses unless the crime committed relates to the practice of that profession.

14. The General Assembly should reintroduce and pass the Pennsylvania Second Chance Jobs Act so that the Department of Labor and Industry can develop and maintain a website where formerly incarcerated people can search for and apply to jobs.

15. County probation needs to be better funded so that probation officers can better support the people they supervise and help them meet the terms of their supervision. Probation should be about providing people with ways to address mistakes that amount to technical violations.

16. State and county officials should work together to reallocate resources to counties so they can provide support services to people on probation or parole.

17. The Wolf Administration should continue to automate and streamline the clemency application and pardons process.

18. The state Constitution should be amended so that the Board of Pardons requires, at minimum, a majority vote, not a unanimous vote, to send pardon and clemency recommendations to the governor in cases with sentences of life imprisonment or death.

The Auditor General’s full special report can be viewed below: