Bail has been a part of justice systems throughout the world since Medieval Times. And, after all these years, it can be said that the bail system has been successful in assisting offenders who are granted bail for their release while they await their trials. In fact, these offenders are more likely to appear at all their court dates because they ultimately have involved their family in the bail process, and they don’t want to go against those they love and who love them enough to help them by putting the money up for their release.
Bail also has a great impact on the community and its taxpayers by providing a service that protects public safety when you realize that bail bondsmen take full responsibility for any risk they might be exposed to at no cost to taxpayers. Currently, the cost to taxpayers to keep an inmate accused of a crime in jail until their court date is about $100 per day, per prisoner.
One of the greatest values of the bail bond system is that a bail bondsman stays on top of their client’s right through to their sentencing, while the police and the courts are not really equipped to do the job themselves or to go after defendants if they skip bail. Plus, the private industry of commercial bail is motivated to keep defendants under control because they have a great deal of money at risk for themselves. In this case they are protecting their “investment” in the offender at all times.
The controversy of fixing the overcrowding problem of California jails could be attributed to the inability of inmates to pay the for their release because the bail set for their offense is too high for them to afford to put up even the 10% required by a bail bondsman. Currently about 70% of our jail population in California, who are still awaiting trials, might be released if they could afford to pay the bail fee. That would definitely free up space so desperately needed in our county jails.
While we don’t know the exact number of prisoners that might be released if they could afford to post bail, in the past, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Dept. conducted a survey, which showed that roughly 24% of the prisoners could have qualified for bail if they had the money. Based on the known fact that our California jails are busting at the seams with inmates, this indicates that about a third of our prison population could be released, freeing up space for more serious criminals, if they could afford to post their bail.
A Northern California Bail Bond Agent, Dale Miller, believes the solution is to significantly lower the cost of bail bonds. A Santa Rosa agent for more than 20 years, he sits on the board of two of California’s largest bail associations. In his own words:
“I consider myself a professional gambler because every time I write a bond, I am at risk of losing a lot of money…. About three years ago, the average bond size was $8,000-$11,000 and now the average bond size is over $20,000… Judges and DAs don’t want to appear soft on crime and one of the easiest things to do is raise somebody’s bail.”
It is very clear that bail reform is necessary in today’s troubled economic times. The bail schedule needs to be addressed and lower bail rates should to be assigned to each offence with the flexibility to go higher or lower, depending on other elements that are always considered like; prior offenses, outstanding warrants, etc, to finally determine if the individual might be a flight risk.
I am in complete agreement with Dale Miller. The California justice system needs to step up to the plate and do what they can to help solve this dilemma. Bail is a positive solution and has been for hundreds of years, but not without the justice systems cooperation and willingness to work with us. This could be a simple fix to a serious problem throughout the state if bail rates were reduced so many offenders could afford to bail themselves out while awaiting trial.
In my opinion, as I’m sure many other bail bondsmen and attorneys would agree, the state should be addressing bail reform immediately to help alleviate this problem immediately!
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