The County Executive is authorized to contract on behalf of the County for supervised pretrial third party custody services in criminal cases. These services will be provided for a defendant who has been placed by a Court of this State in such a program while awaiting the time of trial. The program will be available to the Court as an alternative to pretrial confinement of the defendant or release on monetary bond or personal recognizance. The program to be contracted for should include the following: Screening of defendants by third party custody service representatives with respect to their probable successful participation in the program; liaison with the Court, prosecutors, public defenders, and defense counsel; presence in Court to accept third party custody; Counseling and supervision to insure a defendant's presence in court at the time of trial; Consultation with defendants and their families during the pretrial period concerning such matters as health, welfare, housing, and finances; encouragement to maintain employment or educational status; avoidance of relationships or activities which could result in rearrest or additional criminal charges.

Funding for the third party custody services described in this Division may be provided by the County in conjunction with financial assistance from Federal and State agencies, other political subdivisions in this State, nonprofit organizations, private contributions, and similar sources of income. The County Executive may include in every annual budget submission to the Council the estimated funding for County participation in this program.