The shadowy for-profit bail industry is behind a first-of-its-kind federal effort to criminalize charitable efforts designed to help people who can’t afford to post bail.
The legislation, which civil rights groups warn is part of an ongoing wave of attacks on bail reforms, would be a win for the for-profit bail industry: bounty hunters and the Wall Street insurers that back them all profit from the United States’ unique bail bonds system, in which poor people facing criminal charges pay bail agents to post their bail and get out of jail as they await trial.
The new bill, which just passed the House of Representatives, uses federal insurance law to target bail funds, charitable groups that collect donations to help bail people out of jail who can’t otherwise afford it. In the name of being tough on crime and fraud, the bill would subject these groups to potentially severe criminal penalties if they fail to comply with the regulations — mirroring state-level attempts to restrict bail funds, like a Georgia law this year that, in practice, outlawed the funds entirely.
The lawmaker spearheading the federal challenge, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), is backed by the insurance industry and has close ties to the top lobbying group for bail bond insurers, who underwrite the bonds issued by bail agents. The group has been advocating for the bill.
Charitable bail funds attempt to circumvent the bail bonds system by posting bail for people who cannot afford it. In doing so, they help disrupt what civil rights activists call a “two-tiered” system of justice, in which wealthy people can easily post bail and escape a life-altering jail sentence as their court cases progress, while poor people cannot.
By circumventing the bail bond system, bail…
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Auteur: Katya Schwenk
