Allegheny County Common Pleas Court has implemented a new videoconferencing system for bail hearings that will expedite bond matters and save the county thousands of dollars, officials say.

The program targets inmates who have been jailed on bench warrants and are lodged at the county jail awaiting bond hearings, waits that often last several months. It allows judges to teleconference with inmates at the jail, eliminating transportation costs and long jail stays for those able to post bond.

A state Supreme Court ruling requires that defendants arrested on bench warrants must see a judge within 72 hours.

Criminal Division Administrative Judge Donna Jo McDaniel estimated that on Wednesday, for example, the state-mandated program saved the county approximately $81,000 because 15 of 24 inmates she heard were released on bond. For them to be jailed at a cost of $60 per day and await bond hearings for months is a waste of time, money and resources, she said.

Jail Warden Ramon Rustin said transportation and labor costs for taking those inmates to hearings at the courthouse would be about $200.

Judge McDaniel ruled on another 15 bond cases in less than an hour yesterday through the videoconferencing program.

While a bond officer presents each case to the judge on screen from the jail, the inmate stands to one side with a representative of the public defender's office.

If a defendant is represented by a private attorney, the attorney can communicate with the client via television from several blocks away in the courtroom.

The judge and assistant district attorney assigned to the case can also watch and interact in the on-screen broadcast.

Defendants represented in jail by an assistant public defender also have a second representative in the courtroom, which Public Defender Michael J. Machen called a "win-win situation."