Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Criminal Justice Reform topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Advocates call for review of CSRA Probation; commission refers contract to jail oversight committee
Summary
Citizens and a state policy report prompted calls to review the county's contract with CSRA Probation Services. Commissioners referred the contract and company practices to the jail/population oversight committee for review and asked for a report back roughly within 30 days.
Speakers at the Administrative Services Committee urged immediate review of CSRA Probation Services after a report from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute criticized private, for-profit misdemeanor probation practices and their impacts on low-income residents. The commission referred the county’s contract with CSRA Probation Services to the jail/population oversight committee for further review and requested a prompt written and oral report.
What triggered action: Lawrence Brennan and other advocates read findings from a December 2024 report that analyzed local probation rates, fee structures and case closures from 2019–2022. The report — and speakers representing affected community members — said Augusta’s pay-only probation rates were among the state’s highest while case closure rates were low, and argued the contract warrants administrative and legal review.
CSRA response: Representatives from CSRA Probation Services told commissioners the company inherited a large backlog of delinquent cases when it assumed local probation duties and said numbers from 2019–2020 are inflated by a large transfer of cases into their system; they asked that evaluations focus on 2021 forward, when caseloads normalized. CSRA officials also said courts, not private vendors, make revocation decisions and that re-incarcerations most often follow additional offenses or failures to complete required conditions beyond fee payment.
Commission action: Following testimony, the commission voted to refer the matter to the jail/population oversight committee for a review of CSRA’s practices and the county contract; commissioners asked for a report back within approximately 30 days so the full governing body can consider any recommended changes.
Ending: The Clerk’s Office will schedule the committee review and collect CSRA-related contract documents, quarterly case statistics and correspondence with the courts for committee members to examine.
