Part-Time Jail Time: Jailors’ Perspectives on the Practice of Nonconsecutive Day Sentencing in Virginia

• Published date: 01 April 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0887403418819733
• Author: Blythe Alison Bowman Balestrieri
• Date: 01 April 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403418819733

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2020, Vol. 31(3) 452 –474

© The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/0887403418819733

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Article

Part-Time Jail Time: Jailors’

Perspectives on the Practice

of Nonconsecutive Day

Sentencing in Virginia

Blythe Alison Bowman Balestrieri1

Abstract

Jurisdictions across the Commonwealth of Virginia are working to broaden and refine

the implementation of community-oriented alternative sentencing programs. From

the perspective of practitioners, this article examines the statutory expansion of one

such alternative sanction in Virginia—nonconsecutive day sentencing (“weekend”

or “part-time” jail time)—as adopted in Senate Bill No. 36 during the General

Assembly’s 2018 Regular Session. Presenting mixed-methods survey results from a

large sample of correctional professionals across the Commonwealth, the study finds

little practitioner support for the expanded application of weekend jail programming.

Based on such stakeholder input, the article discusses anticipated adverse effects of

the statutory amendments passed in SB36 and argues that practitioners, with the

assistance of criminal justice researchers, must lend their expertise to legislators in

policy development process from proposal through implementation.

Keywords

jails, alternative sanctions, community corrections, correctional policy, correctional

staff

Introduction: Virginia as Vanguard of “Tough on Crime”

Initiatives

In recent decades, the “tough on crime” sentiment has generated aggressive policy

reform all over the country (Sarre, 2005; Steen & Bandy, 2007), and leading the way

in these punitive efforts was the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1994, the General

1Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Blythe Alison Bowman Balestrieri, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1001 W. Franklin St., Richmond,

VA 23284, USA.

Email: bbalestrieri@vcu.edu

819733CJPXXX10.1177/0887403418819733Criminal Justice Policy ReviewBowman Balestrieri

research-article2018

Bowman Balestrieri 453

Assembly abolished discretionary parole (Va. Code §53.1-165.1) and reduced good

time allowances to ensure that prison inmates served a minimum of 85% of their

imposed sentence (Va. Code §53.1-32.1, §53.1-116, §53.1-189 through 202.4). In

1996, the age at which juveniles could be tried as adults in circuit court was lowered

to 14 (Va. Code §16.1-269.1) and it was established that juveniles, once tried as adults,

would be treated as adults in all future proceedings (Va. Code §16.1-271). In subse-

quent years, mandatory minimum and “three-time loser” sentencing schemes for doz-

ens of offenses were also implemented.1 By 2015, such practices resulted in a 700%

prison population increase (American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia Annual Report,

2014), and at 115%, Virginia’s jails led the nation in the highest overall percentage of

occupied capacity (Minton et al., 2015).

Immediate efforts to manage Virginia’s correctional facility overcrowding led

to an increased use of double- and triple-bunking, lengthy waiting lists for treat-

ment and educational programming, and increased inmate-to-staff ratios, all of

which not only increased the potential for compromised facility safety and secu-

rity but also left the problem of overincarceration far from resolved. It also resulted

in astronomical corrections expenditures. By 2013, the state was spending approx-

imately US$1.5 billion annually to operate overcrowded facilities (Justice Policy

Institute, 2013), and the fiscal burden of paying for Virginia’s punitive efforts,

especially within the broader context of a nationwide economic downturn, quickly

became untenable. Like other states, Virginia was forced to confront the costly

aftermath of well-intentioned but fundamentally ineffectual, wasteful, and coun-

terproductive sentencing practices. Alternative sentencing shifted from luxury to

cost-conscious, evidence-based necessity. Today, state legislatures play an increas-

ingly vital role in implementing policies that balance consideration of jail popula-

tions and offenders’ needs, corrections costs, resource availability, and needs of

the community, all while promoting the equitable administration of criminal jus-

tice (Lawrence & Lyons, 2011). “What works” is the rhetoric de rigueur du jour,

and in encouraging the development and implementation of alternative sentencing

strategies that are both economical and effective, the end goal is not “tough on

crime” but “smart on crime.”

Presumably with these concerns in mind, Senate Bill No. 36 made significant pro-

visionary changes during the 2018 General Assembly Regular Session to the practice

of nonconsecutive day sentencing (e.g., “weekend,” “part-time,” or “non-continuous”

jail time). Yet neither the bill’s patron nor any of the Senate or House Committees

charged with considering SB36 actively solicited any expert input from correctional

professionals on these statutory amendments. As it was precisely these corrections

professionals around the Commonwealth who would ultimately be tasked with navi-

gating these legislative changes, it follows that their opinions about and experiences

with weekend jail time deserve consideration. Yet there is a general—and conspicu-

ous—lack of attention among both legislators and researchers to jail staff perspectives

regarding the “on-the-ground” sustainability of such legislative directives. Toward this

end, the present study on Virginia jailors’ attitudes toward statutory expansion of

weekend jail time in SB36 not only addresses a particular lacuna in criminological