NYC to eliminate bond for nonviolent offenders

NEW YORK — New York City officials on Wednesday announced that people arrested for nonviolent, low-level crimes will no longer need to post bail to be freed before trial.

Starting in 2016, the $18 million policy reform will create a system of supervision, text message alerts about court dates and drug treatment programs for low-level offenders, according to The Associated Press.

The decision, although welcomed by civil rights groups, was received with mixed reviews by the bail bond industry.

“If you don’t get bail, then there’s no work for us,” said Lucia Linares, 26, an employee at ABC Bail Bonds, next to Manhattan Criminal Court. “Bond is a good thing. You can confront your case from outside [jail]. And they give bond to ensure your appearance. It’s a reason to show up.”

Yosef Jabar, 34, another bail bond employee at Ira Judelson Bail Bonds on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, near Kings County Criminal Court, said he supports the idea. He thinks the current system is unfair.

“I think that if crimes are nonviolent, people shouldn’t have to suffer months or even years in jail, or their families have a financial strain on them because of their stupid mistake,” Jabar said.

But he and his employer, Ira Judelson, both have reservations about the plan.

“It all depends on the human being himself,” Jabar said.

Judelson says he’s not worried about losing money. But he thinks his business performs a public service that frees up government resources. New York City, he says, would have to track down people who skip out on bail if the bond industry didn’t exist.

“I’m skeptical of what they’re trying to do. It’s not a thought-out, full process yet,” he said.

Family members of people awaiting arraignment in Brooklyn told Al Jazeera that paying bail puts a significant burden on families strapped for cash.

“It’s good because people can’t afford their bail. They’re busy trying to pay rent and buy food. Not everybody has a high paying job,” said Rebecca Merrick, 51, who said she was waiting for a family member who had been arrested for a nonviolent offense.

Civil rights activists say bail bonds unfairly target poor inmates. They point to the case of Kalief Browder, the 22-year-old who committed suicide in June. Browder, unable to post a $3,000 bail upon arrest for stealing a backpack, spent three years at the Rikers Island jail complex in New York, allegedly suffering abuse from guards and fellow inmates.

Last month New York City agreed to reforms as part of a settlement with federal prosecutors over a lawsuit brought by Rikers inmates who said guards beat them, the New York Observer reported. About 40 percent of Rikers inmates are incarcerated because they can’t afford bail, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU).

“Locking up New Yorkers who should be treated as innocent until proven guilty just because they are poor offends the values and principles this country was built on,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a statement. “No New Yorker should lose their home, job, family or basic liberty just because they are poor.”

Ramsey Orta, 23, who recently spent two weeks at Rikers, was at ABC Bail Bonds on Wednesday in Manhattan. A slight, soft-spoken man, he said he was arrested for allegedly selling drugs to an undercover officer. 

“It was OK,” he said of his experience at Rikers, speaking in a mumble as Linaras processed his paperwork for a $15,000 bond, of which $1500 had to be paid to the city up front. If Orta fails to appear in court, the bondsman will have to pay the city the remainder and then pursue Orta for compensation.

“I think it’s more fair. I support it,” Orta, who filmed Eric Garner's fatal encounter with police in Staten Island last year, said of the bail reform policy. “It will save me money.”  

Aaron Mendez, 30, who served a six-month stint at Rikers after being convicted of a nonviolent drug charge, also welcomed the reform.

A fair system wouldn't keep people in jail or burden them with financial penalties until a court found them guilty, Mendez said.

“You’re not guilty until you’re guilty," he said.