This week I’ve been following the budget discussions around the city’s new pre-trial services program. The program currently assesses 60% of New Orleans’s felony arrests and no misdemeanors. The former Crime Commissioner, James Carter, requested $623,000 to enable the program to screen all of the city’s arrestees, the Mayor’s proposed budget offer was roughly a third of this figure. As part of my reporting, I had the opportunity to speak with Graymond Martin, who previously represented the commercial bail industry and now works in the District Attorney’s office.