Project 48

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

The Clark County Detention Center had reached a critical overcrowding point that significantly strained general fund budgets and impacted safety and security. The Eighth Judicial District Court (EJDC) examined areas where efficiencies could reduce the average length of stay. The transition of a case from the limited jurisdiction (Las Vegas Justice Court) to the felony trial court (EJDC), the “criminal bind-over,” was identified as an area to use technology to streamline case-flow processing. In February of 2015, Chief Judge Dave Barker brought together a consortium of justice professionals to make the process work including: The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept., District Attorney’s Office, Public Defenders’ Office, Justice Court, District Court, and the Nevada Criminal Defense Lawyers. Each entity participated in the planning, shared insights and ideas, and made adjustments to their work models to achieve success. The EJDC Information Technology division put technology to work to shorten the bind-over process. EJDC IT worked with Justice Court IT to integrate the Justice Court and EJDC case management systems and integrate with the jail. The technology was shared with all the justice courts in Clark County. Project 48 not only impacts the average length of time in custody, it gets those who have been jailed back to their families and their lives quicker, reducing the potential for disruption to their professional and home life, and the potential residual fallout that results from unnecessary confinement. Prior to Project 48, standard setting times for criminal bind-overs to arraignment court were 10-15 days. Project 48 cut criminal bind-overs from 10-15 days to 48 hours. Nearly 11,888 jail days were saved in the first year alone. Project 48, eases stress on the overcrowded jail and reduces unnecessary confinement. Since April 2015, the program is estimated to have already saved more than $1.6 million.