Sec. 5.

The sheriff, the persons notified pursuant to section 4, and other circuit, district, and municipal judges may attempt to reduce the prisoner population of the county jail through any available means which are already within the scope of their individual and collective legal authority, including, but not limited to, the following:

(a) Accelerated review and rescheduling of court dates.

(b) Judicial review of bail for possible bail reduction, release on recognizance, or conditional release of prisoners in the county jail.

(c) Prosecutorial pre-trial diversion.

(d) Judicial use of probation, fines, community service orders, restitution, and delayed sentencing as alternatives to commitment to jail.

(e) Use of work-release, community programs, and other alternative housing arrangements by the sheriff, if the programs and alternative housing arrangements are authorized by law.

(f) Review of agreements which allow other units of government to house their prisoners in the overcrowded county jail to determine whether the agreements may be terminated.

(g) Entering into agreements which allow the sheriff for the county in which the overcrowded county jail is located to house prisoners in facilities operated by other units of government.

(h) Refusal by the sheriff to house persons who are not required by law to be housed in the county jail.

(i) Acceleration of the transfer of prisoners sentenced to the state prison system, and prisoners otherwise under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections, to the department of corrections.

(j) Judicial acceleration of pending court proceedings for prisoners under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections who will be returned to the department of corrections regardless of the outcome of the pending proceedings.

(k) Reduction of waiting time for prisoners awaiting examination by the center for forensic psychiatry.

(l) Alternative booking, processing, and housing arrangements, including the use of appearance tickets instead of booking at the county jail and the use of weekend arraignment, for categories of cases considered appropriate by the persons notified pursuant to section 4.

(m) Acceptance by the courts of credit cards for payments of bonds, fines, and court costs.

(n) Use of community mental health and private mental health resources in the county as alternatives to housing prisoners in the county jail for those prisoners who qualify for placement in the programs and for whom placement in the programs is appropriate.

(o) Use of community and private substance abuse programs and other therapeutic programs as alternatives to housing prisoners in the county jail for those prisoners who qualify for placement in the programs and for whom placement in the programs is appropriate.

(p) Preparation of a long-range plan for addressing the county jail overcrowding problem, including recommendations to the county board of commissioners on construction of new jail facilities and funding for construction or other options designed to alleviate the overcrowding problem.

(q) Review of sentencing procedures, including the elimination of delays in preparing presentence reports for prisoners awaiting sentence, and staggering the dates on which prisoners will start serving a jail sentence to minimize fluctuating demands on jail capacity.

History: 1982, Act 325, Eff. Feb. 8, 1983 ;-- Am. 2007, Act 140, Eff. Feb. 11, 2008 Popular Name: Jail Overcrowding Emergency Powers Act