Pretrial diversion program in Ector County created to reduce jail crowding

In Ector County (Odessa) they're implementing a new pretrial diversion program as a first step toward reducing jail crowding:

A program taking mostly first-time offenders out of jail in exchange for another option is finally in motion. 

"If they successfully complete the program, they're never found guilty of the offense," Ector County Judge, Susan Redford, said.

It's called the Pretrial Intervention Program and it's aimed at first-time offenders who've committed smaller misdemeanor crimes like possession of marijuana and public intoxication. The program lets these people with mostly clean records avoid more jail time. Instead, they've got to pay the county $500.00, complete 40 hours of community service and go through six months of probation. ...

It was first thrown on the table to address the problem of crowding inside the jail.

This is a rather minimalist approach, to be sure. If they really wanted to reduce jail crowding, police agencies in Ector County would implement authority granted them in 2007 by the Legislature to issue citations instead of making arrests for low-level misdemeanors like pot possession, driving without a license, etc..