Is St. Clair County court ready to implement SAFE-T Act’s changes to bail in 60 days?
Courts in St. Clair County and across the state are again gearing up for the end of cash bail following an Illinois Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday morning.
Starting Sept. 18, a state law known as the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, or SAFE-T, Act will require them to replace cash bail with detention hearings to decide if people charged with a crime should be detained in the county jail before their trials.
Bail reform had been set to start in 2023 after lawmakers approved the law in 2021. It was delayed by a legal fight last year, which the state Supreme Court resolved with its ruling that the law doesn’t violate the Illinois Constitution, allowing it to take effect in two months.
Courts had been planning and preparing before and during that delay, including in St. Clair County.
Chief Circuit Court Judge Andrew Gleeson said Tuesday they will continue working to be ready for implementation in two months. The number of employees and amount of physical space in the courthouse are two challenges the county will be working to overcome before September.
A Supreme Court opinion was filed today in the case of Rowe v. Raoul (SAFE-T Act).
Find the opinion here: https://t.co/MHPq7hFhmN pic.twitter.com/V4lZ3rhf5b— Illinois Supreme Court (@illinoiscourts) July 18, 2023
What’s changing in Illinois courts with bail reform?
Under the current system in Illinois, people can be released from jail if they can pay an amount of money set by a judge known as a bail bond.
The intent of the SAFE-T Act is to detain people accused of crimes only if they are considered a danger to others or a flight risk.
The cash bail system will be replaced with pretrial detention hearings before a judge where prosecutors will present evidence for why they allege people charged with a crime should be detained in the county jail.
The public defender will automatically be appointed to represent them.
St. Clair County’s challenges to overcome
Gleeson, who oversees the public defender’s office, and Chief Public Defender Cathy MacElroy have long been voicing concerns that the SAFE-T Act will add a significant amount of work to already full attorney caseloads in that office.
The county added $200,000 to the public defender’s office budget for 2023 because lawyers were leaving for better-paying jobs and caseloads got so high the chief public defender told the court they couldn’t effectively represent any more people.
About $110,000 of the increase was covered by a state reimbursement for chief public defenders’ salaries because the county changed MacElroy’s position from part-time to full-time.
As of May 1, the office was fully staffed with eight full-time attorneys, but MacElroy said that was only enough employees to handle the existing caseloads, not the additional work coming from the SAFE-T Act.
“I’m seeking and have been seeking resources to make additions to the public defender’s office in terms of people and compensation,” Gleeson said. “We’ve had one round of that, and it goes on.”
He said the public defender’s office may seek state grant money for additional help or go to the county board for more taxpayer dollars to hire attorneys.
“If these numbers are going to exponentially increase in terms of the caseload of my public defenders, there’s gonna have to be additional public defenders, and the county’s ultimately gonna have to fund that,” Gleeson said. “The county board is responsible to provide the public defender’s office to their citizens.”
What public officials are saying about Illinois Supreme Court ruling on SAFE-T Act
Gleeson said the other challenges the county faces are:
Ensuring other departments have enough staffing, including bailiffs to provide courtroom security.
Making room for a dedicated courtroom for detention hearings when the courthouse doesn’t have any extra space.
Figuring out the logistics of transporting people between the jail and the courthouse for detention hearings.
He emphasized the complete overhaul the SAFE-T Act makes to the courts.
“This is like turning the Titanic,” Gleeson said. “This is changing the criminal justice system as I have known it my entire career, totally.”
County officials will meet at least weekly until Sept. 18 to continue preparing, according to Gleeson.
The meetings will include representatives from the following departments:
Felony judges.
State’s attorney’s office.
Public defender’s office.
Circuit clerk’s office.
Sheriff’s department.
Probation department.
Pretrial services office.
Information technology department.
Public Building Commission.
