NYC ends bail system that unfairly affects poor defendants

Kalief Browder, 22, spent three years in New York City’s Rikers Island jail because he couldn’t afford bail. Last month, he killed himself, possibly because of the trauma he experienced. New York City announced a plan Wednesday to keep people like Browder out of their jails.

The plan, to be implemented next year, is similar to the pretrial systems in a growing number of cities and states. These systems do not jail people based on the amount of money they can afford to pay. Only defendants who pose a risk to their communities are jailed. Proponents say this pretrial supervision system is better than bail because it treats rich and poor the same way.

“Most people who are sitting in jail today, are sitting in jail because they are poor,” said Cliff Keenan, a pretrial supervisor from Washington, D.C. “Persons who have money … they can get out of jail, whether they are dangerous or not.”

For years, inmate advocates have criticized the bail system as unfair to the poor. Arizona, Kentucky, New Jersey, and cities like Charlotte, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., have already switched successfully to pre-trial supervision.

The Washington system, similar to the one proposed in New York City, assesses suspects after they are arrested to determine whether they will be locked up or released, with a promise to appear on their trial date. Defendants who are released usually fall in the low- or medium-risk category. A low-risk defendant might be someone with no record, arrested on a low-level felony like possession of stolen goods. Someone medium-risk might have prior convictions, but only of lesser crimes.

In more than 90 percent of the cases, the judge agrees with the risk assessment and releases the low- and medium-risk prisoners, Keenan said. About 89 percent of the people Keenan works with show up to court without a problem. The rest usually make it to court, just a couple of days later.

“Judges like it, defense attorneys like it,” Keenan said of the system. “It seems to work.”

Pretrial supervision also can help reduce jail overcrowding. According to the Pretrial Justice Institute, about half a million Americans sit in jails without convictions, waiting for trial because they cannot pay their bail. In Washington, Keenan said, jails are down to 40 percent capacity, probably because of the city’s switch from the bail system.

Under a bail system, Keenan explained, a rich murderer can pay $250,000, leave jail, and murder again. But people like Browder, who was charged with stealing a backpack, suffer. The amount of their bail might be lower, but if they can’t pay it, the consequences could include losing their jobs, houses, or worse.