Early Release of Adults in Custody
Early Release of Adults in Custody
In order to manage capacity at the Benton County Jail, we sometimes have to release adults in custody early to make room for incoming arrestees.
Why is early release necessary?
The Benton County Jail follows a strict classification policy to ensure the safety of both staff and adults in custody. Classification determines an adult in custody’s security level and assigns their housing assignment. When all the beds with the appropriate security levels are full, the Jail cannot accept new arrestees for lodging. That’s why, although the Jail has 40 beds, we are often at capacity with 28–34 adults in custody.
As a result, we sometimes “Force Release” adults in custody to vacate the appropriate bed. We call this “Force Release” because we must release an AIC early in order to make room for new offenders.
How do we determine which adults in custody to release?
To ensure a fair and equitable process, we conduct Forced Releases according to policy using a matrix score. The Matrix Score System was developed to objectively determine risk to the community.
When individuals enter the Benton County Jail, staff assess them and assign a matrix score. This score considers factors such as the individual’s past criminal history, their current charges, whether or not they are employed, whether they are under parole or probation supervision, and others.
Due to Jail capacity, we immediately release some arrestees on their own recognizance based on their matrix score. We may release individuals early if we need the bed they occupy. We use their matrix score to determine eligibility for early release.
If we release adults in custody early, do they return to finish their sentence?
No. We may release AICs early if they are pretrial or sentenced. If we Force Relase a sentenced adult in custody, we consider their “sentenced served.” This means they do not return to serve the remainder of their sentence.
How many adults in custody do we release early each year?
The number varies each year but averages about 60. The pdf files in “Supporting Documents” below show which adults in custody we released early and whether they were cited and released, matrix released, or force released.