Carbon County is looking to see if a state grant that aims to help with pretrial initiatives would be a good fit for helping decrease the prison population.

On Wednesday, the county prison board spoke about a two-year Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency grant that could help the county criminal justice system in a few ways.

District Attorney Michael Greek, president of the prison board, said that he spoke with Rick Parsons, chief adult probation officer, regarding the grant and outlined the discussion.

He said that Parsons, if allowed to pursue the grant, said the funds would be used to hire two pretrial officers and one part-time sentencing guideline technician.

Pretrial officers do the pretrial risk assessment and prepare bail recommendations, refer individuals to diversion programs or services and do pretrial supervision and risk and needs assessment before sentencing for courts.

Sentencing guideline technicians would complete computer prior record searches for the courts.

“Right now we only have one … and you need someone else,” Greek said. “They are critical to us.”

He noted that these searches are completed prior to preliminary hearings so the courts are able to give settlement offers at the preliminary hearings. This then cuts down on pretrial conferences and excessive court work by court administration and allows the district attorney’s office to be able to reach plea agreements or identify cases that will go to trial.

“The grant would reduce jail population, increase efficiency of our process, divert low-risk individuals from the criminal justice system and increase referrals to services and reduce recidivism,” Greek said. “All this fits in with the prison board.”

The board gave Greek the go-ahead to tell Parsons to look into the grant further.

If the county decides to apply, it could apply for funds up to $250,000, based on what they feel is needed.

No formal action on applying for the grant at this time was taken.