The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced Wednesday a $700,000 grant to the Clark County Detention Center and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
The grant is part of the Safety and Justice Challenge, a $148 million national initiative to reduce over-incarceration.
Clark County was first selected to join the Safety and Justice Challenge Network in 2017, which included funding for a targeted project focused on implementing an Initial Appearance Court. The main objective of the IA Court is to reduce the overall number of pretrial defendants housed in CCDC by allowing defendants to be in front of a judge within 12 hours from the time of booking.
Clark County was one of 13 jurisdictions selected for additional funding based on the progress of work to date. The new round of funding will provide CCDC and its partners with additional support and expert technical assistance to meet the goal of reducing the average daily jail population by 20 percent over the next two years. Key strategies include improvements to case processing efficiency, enhanced data collection, and electronic distribution of arrest documentation to the court and district attorney.
More information about the work underway in Clark County can be found here.
