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Get out of jail, free
His situation illustrates what's wrong with Maryland's asset-based bail system: It too often leaves low-income people — often those of color (Mr. Muhammad is black, according to court records) — who are charged with nonviolent crimes incarcerated pending trial, where they face the prospect of losing their jobs, housing and relationships. And it does little to ensure community safety. Even bails in the multi-million-dollar range can't contain high-risk defendants with deep pockets; they can secure their release through bail bonds businesses by putting down as little as 1 percent.
This week, the Abell Foundation became the latest institution to
The recommendations and the reasoning are largely the same from all proponents, but the report issued by the Abell Foundation goes a step beyond simply outlining necessary changes; it also lays out a multi-year path for their implementation with short-, middle- and long-term actions clearly defined. In other words, it has left the state no good reason to continue to ignore the advice. To do so amounts to a willful choice to keep locking up low-risk offenders before they're even tried at the expense of their well-being, the community good and taxpayers' wallets at a time when justice reform, particularly in Baltimore, is at the forefront of everyone's minds.
National entities, including the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House Council of Economic Advisors, have denounced cash bail as resulting in economic and racial disparities. And a bill introduced in the House this year, entitled the
The House
“Throughout the nation, those with money can buy their freedom, while poor defendants remain incarcerated awaiting trial,” the bill reads.
Recognizing this, several states, including Kentucky and Colorado, have already moved to minimize the use of bail and implement risk assessment programs; New Jersey is expected to follow suit beginning next year. And, according to Abell, officials in Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New York and Utah are calling for similar changes.
Maryland should be among those demanding a new process — especially in Baltimore, where bails for low-risk defendants are generally twice as high as those set in Prince George's County and five times as high as those set in Montgomery County — given the recommendations of two state committees.
In December 2013, the Task Force to Study the Laws and Policies Relating to Representation of Indigent Criminal Defendants by the Office of the Public Defender (catchy, no?) recommended in its
A year (almost to the day) later, the
Yet nothing has changed.
And the nonviolent Antonio Muhammads of the world have continued to languish in jail, while presumed innocent, at great personal expense. Mr. Muhammad's charges were dropped, and the evidence of them later expunged from the criminal records' system. But it's unlikely the memories of that time will ever disappear.