State of Community Supervision: the numbers, with sources
What officers actually spend their week on, what supervision failure costs, what pretrial detention costs a county, and what agencies measured when they moved supervision onto the phone. Every figure names its source. Updated September 2026.
This page exists so that anyone writing about community supervision, arguing a budget, or answering a question has numbers they can check. Two kinds of figures appear here. External research is named by publisher and year. Agency results are measurements reported by agencies using RePath; those agencies are described by type and state until each one clears the use of its name. Nothing on this page is a projection unless it says so.
How to cite this page: eHawk, Inc., State of Community Supervision, September 2026, ehawksolutions.com/state-of-community-supervision.
Probation officer caseload and time: most of the week goes to paperwork, not people
The problem exists before any vendor walks in. These are the measurements.
of officer time goes to administrative and system work
Only 18.7% went to direct supervision of people. A county corrections department ran the study on its own officers in December 2025, before it used RePath.
a week per officer on database entry alone
Same study. Case management data entry was the single largest block of the week.
a week back per officer, across agencies
The figure RePath customers report after moving check-ins, reminders, messaging and visit notes onto the phone. Measured from platform activity and agency time studies, multiple agencies.
per officer per week in a statewide pilot
A state department of corrections ran a roughly 1,000-person pilot across three regions with 13 officers and measured the time returned. The largest single sample we hold.
returned in six months at a state juvenile justice agency
About eleven and a half full-time positions of capacity. The same agency saved more than 1,600 hours on case notes alone in a single year.
a year statewide, about 13 positions
A state department of corrections measured 765 officer hours back in a 15-week pilot across three offices (560 enrolled), then scaled it to all 19 offices. They funded the statewide contract from vacant positions.
What supervision failure costs the public
National research on what happens when supervision does not hold.
a year spent incarcerating people for supervision violations
Council of State Governments Justice Center, 2024 report on 2021 data. Violations drove 44% of state prison admissions. This is the cost of violations, not the size of any market.
people in state prison on a given day are there because of a supervision violation
Technical violations alone, meaning missed appointments, failed tests and similar rule breaks, cost states more than $3 billion a year. Same report.
per recidivism event
The system cost of one person returning, 2023 figure. State-by-state values are on the CSG cost calculator.
per missed court date, against about $10 to prevent one
A randomized trial in Santa Clara County found automated reminders cut missed-court warrants by about 20%. The ratio is the argument.
a year spent on the US justice system
National total across police, courts and corrections. Supervision is the cheapest part of it and carries the most people.
fewer missed supervision appointments with text reminders
Randomized trial. Reminders work on appointments the same way they work on court dates.
What pretrial detention costs a county, and what changes
Measured by Missouri agencies using RePath as the non-monetary release condition.
fewer pretrial jail days in year one
About 150,000 jail days and $3.9 million. On any given day, about 400 fewer people held. The program grew from 67 people in January 2020 to more than 5,400 by 2026.
drop in what the state reimburses the county for pretrial detention
From an average of $4.66 million a year before RePath (FY17 to FY19) to $3.21 million with it (FY21 to FY26).
recidivism down three years running
Reported by the county, 2019 to 2022.
more per resident billed to the state for pretrial detention by counties that do not use RePath
Compared with counties that do. Missouri has more than 10,000 people on RePath across 22 judicial circuits, including four of the state's five largest counties.
people in a jail built for 55
After building its pretrial program around RePath when bond reform forced releases it had no money to supervise. 95% of the pretrial population is on RePath; the rest are in residential treatment without a phone.
of people on RePath were rearrested
Reported by the circuit. One administrator manages about 70 people at a time.
What electronic monitoring costs: ankle monitors versus the phone the person already carries
The cost comparison agencies make when they choose.
the cost of a day in jail
Incarceration runs $96 to $110 a day in the materials we use, against under a dollar a day for RePath. The real ratio is closer to 1 in 130; 1 in 100 is the conservative version.
the cost of an ankle monitor
Priced per officer, not per participant. The participant pays nothing.
lost in the life of the program, against $2,500 per lost ankle monitor
The county's own replacement cost for a monitor. Reported by its chief probation officer, 2025.
in monitor spend avoided on 200 supervision slots
Alongside about 965 officer hours returned, measured from platform activity.
what the participant pays for the phone they already carry
"This is our only way to have a program. People can't afford ankle monitors." A program that exists because the phone costs the participant nothing.
a year in supervision technology spend
Before and after, in the county's own words.
Training officers works only if the skills get used
The research behind supervision quality, and the gap it points at.
reduction in reoffending when officers are trained in core correctional practices
Meta-analysis. The training investment agencies make is justified by the evidence.
say the effect holds only when officers actually use the skills in real conversations
Meta-analysis. Almost no agency measures whether the skills show up in practice.
per officer per month is what supervisor quality review usually covers
The sample is small, late, and often chosen by the officer being reviewed. That is the gap RePath Intelligence was built to close.
What agencies measured once supervision moved to the phone
Adoption and outcomes, reported by the agencies.
of officers recommended a statewide contract after the pilot
Voluntary adoption in the pilot was 70%. In the follow-up survey a year later, 83 to 100% of officers, depending on the district, said keep it.
compliance reports a year, with one complaint on record
Volume with almost no friction is the point. 37 of Missouri's 46 circuits and more than 130 agencies have put people on RePath.
of cases closed successfully across 2,275 closures
January 2023 to July 2026. Successful closures rose from 86% to 92% over three years while closures to jail fell from 14% to 6%.
court hearings missed in the pilot
About 110 youth across six judicial districts. 14% of youth had their supervision level reduced because their compliance earned it. The best-performing site averaged 85% compliance against a 70% baseline.
of participants held 75% compliance or better
An Indiana recovery court reports 96% of participants stayed compliant. A Tennessee recovery court saw self-check compliance rise 50%.
in every category from five customers across three states
Missouri, Kansas and Texas, signed reference forms. One of the five had lost RePath to a funding cut and come back.
The probation officer shortage: the positions agencies cannot fill
Vacancy counts agencies have told us, which is where the money for supervision technology usually comes from.
vacant officer positions when it signed
The pilot math showed about 13 positions of capacity coming back, so the state removed vacant positions and used that salary line. No new appropriation. Their account of how they funded it.
vacancies carried while returning nearly 12,000 officer hours in six months
Returned capacity absorbs the work vacancies were supposed to cover.
agencies, 50,000+ people supervised
The scale behind every measurement on this page.
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