Benton County outlines how $500,000 in Justice Reinvestment funding is spent on ankle monitors, housing and treatment

County leaders on the Benton County Local Public Safety Coordinating Council detailed how the county's Justice Reinvestment Program (JRP) award is being used, saying the roughly $500,000 grant funds pre-trial monitoring, transitional housing for people leaving custody, and behavioral-treatment programming while reserving 10% for victim services.

The explanation came during a presentation to the full WCJC on JRP operations. "We have up to 10 ankle monitors we can put on folks," said Captain John Deanny of the Benton County Jail, describing 24/7 tracking and an Ally phone app that can notify victims when a monitored person is nearby. "Our guys will track them 24/7." Sheriff Jeff Arsdale confirmed the program's current scale: "As of this morning, nine are being utilized." The council discussed monitor capabilities, including alcohol-testing features, and operational limits tied to staffing and costs.

Why it matters: JRP funds are intended to reduce recidivism and state prison use by supporting community-based supervision and services. County staff told the council they must show results in semiannual CJC reporting and align programs with the Criminal Justice Commission's goals.

Officials laid out the funding mix. Captain Joel Pickard, who oversees parole and probation programming, said transitional housing uses about 15% of the award to house people released from the Department of Corrections and has been adjusted to serve some adult treatment court participants. "And that transitional housing is about 15% of that grant award right now," Pickard said. He said treatment programming (including cognitive behavioral therapy facilitated by a trained deputy) represents roughly 6% of the award. Pickard also reiterated that 10% of the award is reserved for victim services and said the "vast majority" of the remaining funds are currently used by the jail.

Council members pressed for specifics on program capacity and reach. The sheriff and jail staff identified Sergeant Hunter Mueller and Deputy Beer as the staff assigned to pre-trial monitoring; both are described as peer-support trained and linked into community resources. The council discussed whether ankle monitors could be repurposed for house arrest; speakers said limited monitor inventory and staffing make routine use for sentencing unlikely, though narrow medical or logistical exceptions have been made in the past.

Officials also raised a related CJC-funded health initiative. Captain Deanny described a jail program providing Sublocade, an extended-release opioid treatment. "These shots are $1,500 a piece," he said, and county staff reported receiving a stock with shorter-than-expected shelf life; they estimate about 40 doses will expire at the end of April and are seeking clinics or treatment-court participants who could receive them before expiration. The county has also obtained a continuing CJC grant of $138,000 to sustain the medication-assisted-treatment effort after the expiring doses are used.

What remains unresolved: Council members asked whether JRP funds can be shifted to juvenile-specific services. Staff said there is no juvenile carve-out in the program language they reviewed; victim services is the only statutory set-aside noted. The council discussed convening partners to explore juvenile-service coordination and other priorities.

Next steps: Staff and law enforcement said they will report back on options for adding monitor capacity, ways to use the Sublocade doses before expiration, and proposals for how WCJC should engage on JRP planning and CJC reporting.