People arrested for these crimes can skip jail under new Kentucky COVID-19 rules
People arrested for nonviolent and nonsexual crimes through May 31 will be released under new rules issued Tuesday by the Kentucky Supreme Court.
The order is not retroactive and only covers new arrests, a spokeswoman for the court system said.
People charged with “nonsexual/nonviolent” misdemeanors and felonies will be released on their own recognizance if they do not pose “a high risk for new criminal activity,” according to the order.
Those facing felony charges and anyone “at high risk for failure to appear” or who has previously failed to appear are to be supervised “by pretrial services through monitored conditional release,” the order states.
People being monitored will report by phone.
Those who have been charged with alcohol intoxication, drinking in public, public intoxication and DUI, first offense can be released “to an adult who is willing to accept responsibility for the defendant” or released when the defendant “is able to safely care for himself or herself, but in no event shall the defendant be detained for more than eight hours following his or her arrest.”
People served warrants for failure to pay court costs, fees or fines or who have warrants for failure to appear on a violation are not to be arrested. Instead, the order said officers should issue a citation and give them a court date after May 31.
People “arrested for contempt of court on civil matters (excluding any violation of a protective order), nonpayment of child support or nonpayment of restitution shall be released on recognizance, and a show cause hearing shall be set after May 31,” according to the order.
Those who are not released from custody under the new rules are to receive a review by a judge within 12 hours of arrest.
The order was signed by Chief Justice John Minton Jr. Tuesday, and the rest of the Supreme Court concurred.
The new release rules are intended “to further protect the health and safety of our criminal justice partners—peace officers, county jails, and pretrial drug testing providers — and to protect the health and safety of all pretrial defendants and any defendants housed in county jails,” the court said.
The order also sets new guidelines for pretrial drug testing in order “to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 for both the providers and defendants,” a news release stated.
Defense attorneys, inmates’ families and others have sounded alarms about the possibility of COVID-19 outbreaks in jails and prisons in recent weeks as the number of coronavirus cases in Kentucky grew.
Over the past month, court officials have worked to send home inmates, decreasing the population of local inmates by 35 percent, but 44 jails are still considered overcrowded.
As of last Thursday, 7,528 people were housed in Kentucky’s jails.
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 9:57 PM.
