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Bail

Bail Reform

Based upon the value long ago proclaimed by the Supreme Court, “In our society, liberty is the norm, and detention prior to trial or without trial is the carefully limited exception,” the goal of many bail reform groups in the United States such as Equal Justice Under Law and the American Civil Liberties Union is to bring about change to the traditional money bail system. Wealth based detention has certain consequences seen through the effects of overcrowded local jails and drained local budgets to keep those individuals detained. On any given day in the United States, there are about 500,000 human beings in government jails because they cannot afford to pay money bail.

In San Francisco, Equal Justice Under Law (civil rights organization) filed a lawsuit in 2015 that sought to end the money bail system in that district. Sheriff Vicki Hennessy was added as a defendant to the original case that involved the state and city. Hennesey said in a statement: "However, a system that allows one person access to immediate freedom through the payment of cash while another person with the same criminal history and charges who lacks financial resources remains behind bars seems unfair to me," as a response to the bail system that she agrees should be changed.

Opposition

The California Bail Agents Association are opposed to recent progressions made in the Santa Clara County when their Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to drop bail requirements for hundreds of inmates awaiting trial. They pointed to recent increases in California’s property and violent crime rates in 2015, which rose 7.2 percent and 7.6 percent respectively.

Equal Justice Under Law (civil rights organization)

Founded in 2014, Equal Justice Under Law is an American civil rights organization in Washington, D.C., which provides pro bono legal services to those most in need and accepts cases on a national basis. The group has filed twenty-seven lawsuits in twelve states and the District of Columbia targeted at ending unequal practices in our justice system. They engage in "litigation and advocacy to reform the structures, norms, and incentives that create and perpetuate violations of fundamental rights" such as wealth-based detention, modern day debtors' prisons, and abusive probation practices.

Ending the American Money Bail System

In January 2015, Equal Justice Under Law launched Varden v. City of Clanton, its first challenge to money bail systems in federal court in Alabama which has drawn national attention in the wake of the United States Department of Justice's decision to file a Statement of Interest in the case.

Since the beginning of 2015, Equal Justice Under Law has filed ten class action challenges to money bail systems in eight states. As a result form these lawsuits, cities in Alabama, Kansas Missouri, Mississippi, and Louisiana have reformed their practices to end the use of secured money bail for new arrestees.

Fighting Abusive Probation Practices

On October 1, 2015, Equal Justice Under Law in coordination with the law firm Baker Donelson filed a landmark RICO and constitutional class action law suit "in federal court in Nashville challenging the pervasive extortion and debtors’ prison conspiracy that has devastated thousands of the most impoverished people in Rutherford County, Tennessee." This was in response to the the six-month investigation that exposed rampant corruption, racketeering, and constitutional violations pervading the Rutherford County probation system. On December 17, 2015, Equal Justice Under Law claimed a victory when the the court issued a preliminary injunction "ruling protecting thousands of additional misdemeanor probationers, ordering the release of those illegally jailed and preventing the company and the County from illegally keeping impoverished misdemeanor probationers in jail solely because of their inability to pay."

Shutting Down Debtors' Prisons

Equal Justice Under Law has been focused on conducting extensive investigations into the rise of modern-day Debtors' prison and in September of 2015, they filed a class action law suit in federal court in New Orleans that alleges "widespread and systemic violations of basic human and civil rights in the New Orleans legal system."

Exposing and challenging some of the most flagrant and profitable debtors’ prisons schemes in the country, the group has multiple lawsuits open in states such as Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi and Louisiana.

NEW PAGE

Work Group to Re-envision the Jail Replacement Project

The Work Group to Re-envision the Jail Replacement Project was formed in response to a resolution that was passed by the Board of Supervisors on January 12, 2016. This resolution urged the Director of the Department of Public Health and the Sheriff to "convene a work group to plan for the permanent closure of County Jail Nos. 3 and 4, and any corresponding investments in new mental health facilities and current jail retrofits needed to uphold public safety and better serve at-risk individuals."

On Friday October 28, 2016 the work group voted to approve investments in social services and policies that keep people out of jail as an alternative to a new jail in San Francisco, and ultimately rejected both Sheriff Vicki Hennessy and District Attorney George Gascon proposed plans that included a “Behavioral Health Justice Center" with locked facilities and a jail renovation.

No New SF Jail Coalition

One of the proponents of the project, District Attorney George Gascón, said that San Francisco "should continue to invest in diversion programs to decrease the jail population and that the inmates at County Jail No. 4 should be moved to the city’s three other jails." The Board of Supervisors assembly unanimously rejected the new jail proposal on December 15, 2015 and refused to  allocate $215 million for the project and said "the city should invest instead in diversion programs and mental health services."

Stances on Similar Issues

Alternatives to Incarceration

Opposed not only to the building of a new prison at 850 Bryant St. but also the humans right abuses of people with mental illness in the current San Francisco county jail at that location. A Civil Grand Jury report released on July 14, 2016 detailed how the "The San Francisco jail system serves as a “default mental institution” due to the high number of inmates with mental health problems and needs better staffing, training and procedures for communicating and tracking information about inmates to handle the load." Stated in the report, was a statistic outlining that mental illness is common among inmates and about 31% have been homeless within the past year. This issue ties into the stance the No New SF Coalition has on the different proposal to replace the jail, not with a prison, but instead a a locked facility known as a “Behavioral Health Justice Center”.

Background and History

The No New SF Jail Coalition accepted the Hero Award, presented by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and its Equity Advisory Committee, in order to "acknowledge and honor those individuals and organizations who, through their daily efforts, advance civil and economic rights in San Francisco’s diverse and multicultural communities."

Prison

Population Statistics

Prison populations in the United States continues to grow annually and there is one key interpretation from that fact: the American penal system incarcerates more individuals than any other country in the world. In Germany, 93 people are in prison for every 100,000 adults and children. In the U.S., the rate is roughly eight times that, or 750 per 100,000. Russia has about 890,000 inmates, China has around 1.5 million inmates, while the United States has around 2.3 million inmates according to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).

One of the many dimensions taken into account when analyzing prison statistics is the different incarceration rates between racial groups. The U.S. Department of Justice conducted an analysis of mid-2006 prison statistic date that showed for Hispanic and black men, imprisonment is a far more prevalent reality than it is for white men. Data analyzed in this report showed:

• For white men ages 18 or older, 1 in 106 were in prison
• For Hispanic men ages 18 or older, 1 in 36 were in prison
• For black men ages 18 or older, 1 in 15 were in prison

(Utilizing information from:

- http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/pcs_assets/2008/one20in20100pdf.pdf)

State Prison Reformations

On July 15, 2016, Alaska Governor Bill Walker signed SB 91, an extensively vetted crime reform bill, into law to try and reduce the state's prison population and its associated costs. This came at a time when the state was facing the prospect of a projected 27% increase to its prison population within the next 10 years, which would costs taxpayers an additional $169 million. The authors of the bill were Senators Johnny Ellis (D-Anchorage) and John Coghill (R-North Pole), the latter of whom stated "This was an enormous achievement that will reduce recidivism, hold offenders accountable, and get the most public safety out of each dollar spent on our criminal justice system."

Following years of "tough on crime" policies that did not seem to be producing the desired returns on public safety, Alaska was seeking to improve safety in communities and utilize taxpayer resources more efficiently.

(Utilizing information from:

- https://www.adn.com/politics/2016/07/11/alaska-gov-walker-signs-crime-reform-bill-into-law/

- http://rightoncrime.com/2016/05/alaskas-senate-bill-91-draws-on-a-decade-of-conservative-criminal-justice-reforms/)

Prison Reform in Singapore

In 1998, Singapore was faced with similar issues that the United States is currently experiencing: rising numbers of prisoners, overcrowding, high recidivism, and trouble recruiting and retaining correctional officers. Chua Chin Kiat, Director of Singapore Prison Service, changed the mission of the criminal system to one that would "get criminals out of prison." The program that was implemented, utilized a system that created "prisons as schools for life," recast guards as "captains of lives," responsoble for all prisoners' human needs—physical, emotional, spiritual, vocational, educational—and future success. Results from implementing this program included slashing recidivism from 44 percent to a low of 23 percent, settling at 27 percent in 2009, respect for guards skyrocketed above 90 percent, assaults plummeted, guards reported better working conditions, and the recruitment problem was solved.

Economics of the prison industry

( In the United States alone, more than $74 billion per year is spent on prisons, with over 800,000 people employed in the prison industry.^{[76] )}

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Absent of the continued growth of prison populations, the cost to run these prisons and keep the nation's criminal offenders locked up is staggering: costing taxpayers an approximate $39 billion according to a 2012 Vera Institute of Justice Study. The average cost by state varies, with some states such as Indiana, Kentuckey and Idaho keeping costs below $20,000 per inmate while other states such as New York and New Jersey paying more than $50,000 per inmate.

(Utilizing information from:

- https://smartasset.com/insights/the-economics-of-the-american-prison-system)

Prisoner reentry

Becoming increasingly popular in the last couple decades, prisoner reentry programs such as the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) in New York, the Fortune Society, the Osbourne Association, and Strive have taken up the challenge to help formerly incarcerated individuals make the difficult transition back into communities after serving time in prison. Many individuals who reenter society without marketable occupational skills, proper education, and formal work experience, not only face the burden of a felony conviction in the more serious cases, but also face the challenge of employers holding stigmas against these people.

According to Shawn Bushway’s 2002 research, "one in three incarcerated individuals reported being unemployed before entering state prison, and fewer than half had a job lined up prior to release. Since data show that two-thirds of all those released from prison and on parole will be rearrested within three years, and over 50 percent will return to prison or jail, there is great need for reentry programs to help people find jobs and avoid recidivism."

"As higher numbers of individuals are released from prison and rejoin society, reentry programs can help former offenders reintegrate into society without continuing to engage in crime. This quasi-experimental study examined whether participation in reentry programming was associated with reduced recidivism among offenders who were no longer under criminal justice supervision."

"While the economic model of crime suggests that improving post-prison labor market prospects should reduce recidivism, evaluations of previous employment-oriented re-entry programs have mixed results, possibly due to the multi-faceted challenges facing prisoners at the time of their release."

Rehabilitation (penology)

"Many scholars and practitioners treat rehabilitation as a black box that, if working, necessarily outputs lower recidivism rates."

This article investigates the role of the arts in enabling prisoners to engage with learning and improve their literacy, and the impact this has on their rehabilitation and desistance from crime.

"American prison systems may be shifting away from warehousing towards prisoner rehabilitation. California’s corrections policy, for example, has changed dramatically in response to a variety of pressures budgetary, operational and judicial."

Charles Koch Institute

Criminal Justice System Reform

One of the programs that the Koch Institute is focused on includes reformation of the criminal justice system, with specific ideals such as rehabilitation and different alternatives than prison for minor crimes such as underage possession of alcohol and marijuana or petty theft.

Recently, the Virginia-based Charles Koch Institute in coordination with the James Madison Institute, gathered data from a poll of 1,488 Florida residents utilizing an opt-in Web-based panel which ended up with results that reflected the dissatisfaction with the current system. Results included:

• 72 percent agreed or strongly agreed that it is important to reform the criminal justice system in Florida
• 75 percent of Floridians agree or strongly agree that the prison population is costing our country too much money
• 72 percent believe felons should be able to get licenses to work after they finish serving their sentences
• 74 percent believe prisons should focus more on rehabilitation than punishment

(Utilizing information from:

- http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=8893)

James Madison Institute

Criminal Justice System Reform

Stemming from their stances on a multitude of different public policy issues in conjunction with their organization's mission statement, Sal Nuzzo, vice president of JMI said "For the past few years as we've worked in the criminal justice arena, we have experienced first hand the changing debate on these issues. The poll solidified what we've come to know --- Floridians want criminal justice reform." This public opinion survey Mr. Nuzzo was referring to, was a poll of 1,488 Florida residents utilizing an opt-in Web-based panel which ended up with results that reflected the dissatisfaction with the current system. Results included:

• 72 percent agreed or strongly agreed that it is important to reform the criminal justice system in Florida
• 75 percent of Floridians agree or strongly agree that the prison population is costing our country too much money
• 72 percent believe felons should be able to get licenses to work after they finish serving their sentences
• 74 percent believe prisons should focus more on rehabilitation than punishment

(Utilizing information from:

- https://www.charleskochinstitute.org/majority-floridians-agree-criminal-justice-reform-now/)

Probation

Types of Supervision

"The article focuses on the role of probation officers in recidivism prevention for ensuring public safety. Topics discussed include changes in the justice system of the U.S. Courts for prisoners released to community supervision, to deal with challenges of retributive justice, and the perspectives of the U.S. criminal justice system."

"An important step on the journey towards desistance involves the reintegration of ex-offenders into their communities. In order to desist fully, individuals must gain access to new social resources, overcome existing problems and 'knife off' their criminal pasts."

Intensive supervision probation (ISP), otherwise known as the offender's last chance at probation, is seen as an alternative to incarceration. One particular study however, has proven the ineffectiveness of this method with ISP probationers absconding from supervision more often, charged with technical violations more frequently, and were re-incarcerated at significantly higher rates.