Keep Bailing

All across America, states are running out of ways to combat prison overcrowding. Prisons are like dams that threaten to break, with an inmate overflow that will be impossible to contain. Many people feel the last two decades of the 20th century were the point at which prison overcrowding began to accelerate faster than states could keep up.

During those times, states tried to fight rising crime rates by meting out stiffer sentences. This tactic did reduce criminal activity, but it also sent jail populations skyrocketing . Recent early release programs that were intended to combat the financially devastating inmate-influx have been sharply criticized by police and the public.

In California, where the state’s 33 prisons are designed to hold 85,000 inmates, these detention centers are packed to the gills with 160,000 men and women — almost double the amount! But at last, there may be a solution to this situation, born from what some might see as an unlikely source: bail bondsmen.

The relatively new idea is to use financial collateral as an incentive for convicted criminals to behave. To do this, the bondmen would post something called Conditional Post-Conviction Release Bonds. Here’s how they work:

Dennis Bartlett, Executive Director of the American Bail Coalition and a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council has created the Conditional Post-Conviction Release (CPCR) Bond Act along with ALEC and other groups. Courts choose nonviolent offenders who meet strict criteria and then allow private bail companies to post this type of bond on their behalf. Taxpayers benefit because there is no cost to them and the criminals now have a financial incentive to appear in court. Violent offenders who are not eligible for this type of bond can then be incarcerated in the freed up prison spaces to serve their sentences in full.

As a condition of signing on for these CPCR Bonds, defendants must agree to let bail companies monitor them for drugs, check to see if they are employed, if they are in a recovery program and/or whatever other conditions apply.

Bartlett says that post-conviction bonds could even be used to keep people from entering the prison system at all. They would give judges a choice between issuing a sentence and offering an eligible defendant be bonded, instead. This is a win-win for the state, Bartlett believes, because the prisons get one less inmate, and the state can collect money from the bail bondsman if the person skips his court hearing or disappears.

Mississippi probation workers embraced Post-Conviction bonds after realizing they made their jobs easier by decreasing workloads. Mississippi became the first state to adopt the Conditional Post-Conviction Release Bond Act, three years ago. Michigan passed another version of it in 2009. According to Gene Newman, Secretary of the Professional Bail Agents of the United States, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, California and other states will soon be jumping on the bandwagon.

There isn’t much data on how well these bonds have worked out so far, but according to Bartlett, results look promising. About 1,000 inmates were released in Mississippi and over 97 percent of them kept their court dates. Mississippi jails are now saving around $35,000 per inmate for every year they aren’t incarcerated (minus medical costs and other expenses).

Some bail bondsmen are opposed to performance bonds such as Post-Conviction Bonds because they do not have the time, financial means or manpower to monitor defendants 24/7. And, while I doubt this bail bond company would undertake these bonds, it does sound like the benefits to California could be significant.

Bartlett is hopeful that with more publicity and positive data, Post-Conviction Bonds could be the miracle cure for prison overcrowding. Let us hope so, because if this situation goes unchanged, like the flood from our metaphorical burst dam, it will overwhelm us all.

Source: Post-Conviction Bonds a Promising Solution to Prison Overcrowding
Photocredit: © Liv Friis-larsen – Fotolia.com