POUGHKEEPSIE – State bail reform initiatives that go into effect on January 1, 2020 are expected to have major impact on county jail populations as individuals charged with misdemeanors and non-violent felonies will no longer be remanded to jail in most cases.
That has led Dutchess County officials to go back to Albany in effort to shrink the size of the new Justice and Transition Center, said County Executive Marcus Molinaro.
“With the implementation of bail reform, our analysis and advocacy, and argument before the State Commission on Corrections secured us the ability now to redesign and reduce the size and cost of the county jail proposal by as much as 200 individual beds,” Molinaro said.
The county exec said that will save the county millions in construction and operating costs.
The current average jail population is about 350 daily inmates.
