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Vol. 82/No. 16 April 23, 2018
Bail bondsmen use power to jail workers to extort them
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
Under the U.S. capitalist “justice” system, hundreds of thousands of
working people are incarcerated without having been convicted of any
crime, the vast majority stuck behind bars for days, months or years
because they can’t afford bail.
The United States has the world’s highest incarceration rate. Some 1.5
million people are in federal or state prisons, 615,000 in local jails
and 4.8 million on parole or probation. Over 70 percent of those in
jails have not been convicted of anything, according to the Prison
Policy Initiative.
Seeking to make big profits off this situation, bail bondsmen, backed by
large corporations, offer to fund prisoners’ release pending trial, but
at a very steep price.
If you have access to ample cash — sometimes tens of thousands of
dollars or more — to meet bail requirements, you’re immediately released
and get your money back after showing up in court for subsequent hearings.
But many workers facing charges have to turn to bail bondsmen. They
charge a nonrefundable 10 percent fee. Those who can’t cover this are
saddled with loan payments and high interest rates, as well as other
arbitrary fees and intrusions into one’s personal life. Given this
harassment, some people decide to plead guilty to crimes they did not
commit to escape from the financial demands of a bondsman. This is just
one of many ways the presumption of innocence is undermined.
“Bondsmen have extraordinary powers that most lenders do not,” described
an April 1 New York Times article titled, “When Bail Feels Less Like
Freedom, More Like Extortion.”
“Some states give them broad latitude to arrest their clients for any
reason — or none at all. A credit card company cannot jail someone for
missing a payment. A bondsman, in many instances can,” the article said.
Bond agents have also imposed curfews on their clients, searches of
their cars or homes at any time, and access to medical and other records.
“When a home health care aide wanted to bail her son out of Rikers
Island in New York City,” reported the Times, “she was charged $1,000 to
have a courier walk her money a few blocks to the courthouse.” Some have
been forced to wear ankle monitors at a cost of $300 a month.
In Santa Clara County, California, Gregory Chiotti received a bill from
Jake’s Bail Bonds for $39,755 and a notice of foreclosure on his house
he had put up as collateral for the bonds taken out on his daughter. At
the time she already had been convicted and was in jail, the Times
reported. After paying these extortion funds, Chiotti got a second
notice of foreclosure six years later, saying he now owed the bondsman
$117,500.
Up until the end of the 19th century, those accused of a crime were
released without having to make upfront cash payments as long as a
person or entity took responsibility for their return for trial. Payment
was only required if a defendant didn’t appear.
With a 60 percent increase of the U.S. prison population under the
Clinton administration in the 1990s, use of bail became more extensive.
According to the Pretrial Justice Institute, both dollar amounts of
bonds and the number of crimes for which bail is set increased by 50
percent during this time.
The for-profit bail bonding industry rakes in $2 billion in annual
revenue, according to the Justice Policy Institute. Its operations are
only legal in the U.S. and the Philippines.
In New Orleans, for example, 63 percent of individuals accused of
misdemeanors and 87 percent accused of felonies had to pay a bondsman as
a condition of release before trial, according to the Vera Institute of
Justice.
Related articles:
Florida prison officials back off new moves to censor ‘Militant’
Judge stays parole for Herman Bell as NY cops campaign to halt release
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