Traditionally, night courts have been used in general jurisdiction trial courts where there are not enough courtrooms to accommodate the number of judges. Generally, night courts are unable to take advantage of the economies of scale in terms of clerical, security, probation office, and data processing support available to day courts. Night courts are therefore very expensive and inefficient to operate. In Hennepin County, for the period September 18, 1989, to October 15, 1989, the average daily total inmate count was 530. With a physical capacity of 394, it is clear that the jail, on average, is 130 beds over capacity (based on the September and October figures). This study concludes that the number of inmates that would be released through a night court bail review proceeding would not make a significant dent in the overall jail overcrowding problem. The night court bail review might accelerate the release of misdemeanor defendants by 12-14 hours and felony defendants by 16-18 hours. The study offers recommendations for pretrial release. Appended list of persons interviewed and a night court rationale