The current bail system is considered unfair by many. There have been moves to bail reform, but not much progress has been made, say reform advocates. Why? The $2-billion-a-year bail bonds industry is blocking changes, they charge.
Opponents of the bail system claim it is designed to keep poor people in jail. And, many of the 2020 Democratic candidates have put for bail reform proposals.
Here is how the current system works: When someone is arrested, they get arraigned, and usually bail is set. If the person has enough money to put up their own money for bail, they soon get out of jail. But for those with few financial resources turning to a bondsman is the answer. And often, the arrested person has to stay in jail until someone can raise the bondsman’s fee.
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“Bail bond companies make money by charging a fee — typically 10 percent of a defendant’s bail amount. So if a defendant has bond set at $50,000, the bail bond company charges $5,000 to get them out. No matter what, the bonds company will collect that charge — guilty or not guilty. Even if the charges are dropped,” CNN reported.
For people who can not afford the 10 percent for the bond company fee, they can arrange a payment plan until the entire bill is paid off. This can cause families to carry debts that can last for years.
“Low-risk people who can’t afford to post bond spend days, weeks, months in jail until they take a plea or their cases are actually dropped,” said Cherise Fanno Burdeen, who runs the Pretrial Justice Institute, an organization that has fought for reform for more than 40 years. “It has a dramatic impact on people.”
There has been an effort to make changes to the system. In fact, more than 25 states have passed laws or enacted changes that address bail practices. But the industry has pushed back.
“We don’t arrest the people,” Jeff Clayton, the Executive Director of the American Bail Coalition, said. “We don’t set their bails. And if people want to use our services, we feel that’s an extension of their constitutional right to do so.”
Clayton said the industry has been willing to work with those pushing for change. He added that while his group “participated in public policy discussion regarding bail reform.”
California has passed the most far-reaching legislation in the country, thus far. The state wanted to cash bail altogether — that was until the bail industry interfered. It seems that “shortly after the passage of that law, the bail bond industry, and the insurance companies that underwrite their bonds, raised more than $3 million to fund a ballot referendum that put everything on hold. The effort was successful, and voters will decide the issue on the November 2020 ballot,” CNN reported.
Following the Texas jailhouse death of Sandra Bland, who had been arrested for allegedly assaulting an officer after she was stopped for not using a turn signal. After her arrest, her family had been working to secure the 10 percent fee to hire a bondsman on her $5,000 bond. Three days after her arrest Bland was found hanging in her cell. Reformers say if Bland has been able to afford her bail she would not have sat alone in a jail cell for three days.
In 2017 Texas tied to pass reform but “the bail industry’s lobbying efforts helped thwart the measure from progressing, according to a committee staff member. This past session, despite even wider support and a strong initiative by the governor, bail reform died again, as the bill the House passed was never put on a Senate committee calendar,” CNN reported.
