Polly Campbell: The case against cash bail

I usually start these columns with something from my own life, but I want to write about something that does not seem to directly affect me.

I’ve never been to jail. I’ve never bailed anyone out of jail. I don’t know anyone in prison. 

If I wanted to, I could ignore the entire American criminal justice system and all its problems. 

But I can’t ignore it, because it makes me angry. And I know having 2 million people incarcerated in the United States is detrimental to everyone. Evidence shows it makes crime worse. It is racially biased, makes kids of Black and poor people grow up without parents. Minor offenders get caught up in the justice system and turn into serious criminals. 

I’m glad there are prisons for rapists and murderers and corrupt politicians, but having the highest incarceration rate in the world doesn’t keep us safe. 

It’s a dark topic, and a hard one for a regular citizen to feel any ability to influence. 

But if unfairness and racism always bother you, I have a suggestion. Look into The Bail Project, a national organization that operates in Hamilton County; the focus is on helping people make bail and, ultimately, getting rid of cash bail. 

Cash bail is the front door to mass incarceration, and part of the architecture of its racial bias. Bail isn’t for keeping violent criminals in jail, it’s simply meant to get people to show up in court. You get arrested, a judge sets bail, you get your freedom by paying it. The idea is that you’ll show up for your court date because then you get your money back, which can be a lot. A typical amount in Hamilton County is $10,000. 

However, if you don’t have it or can’t get it, they keep you in jail. 

So, you’re arrested for trespassing, a traffic offense, for old drug offenses though you’ve gotten sober. You’re legally innocent. Yet you’re stuck in jail for weeks or months waiting for a court date. You lose your job, maybe custody of your children. You can’t pay your rent. You lose access to your regular medical care. Or you are mentally ill, and don’t have care or medications. It’s harder to see your lawyer. You may feel your only choice is to plead guilty to get your freedom, giving you a criminal record. Your life can literally be ruined; 82% of suicides in the prison system are people who have not even been tried for anything. 

For the same offense, a person with money can pay and get their freedom and go about their business until the trial date. Since Black people have higher rates of poverty, it becomes a racial gap. Try to tell me that’s a good, fair system. 

In addition to collecting data and lobbying for reform, The Bail Project employs a “bail disrupter” in Hamilton County who pays bail for people who don’t have the money. The organization takes referrals from the public defender’s office. 

“We also have a good relationship with the (Hamilton County) sheriff’s office,” said Karima McCree-Wilson, operations manager for Cincinnati as well as Cleveland. “They give us permission to go into the jail so people can apply.” 

Every day they get about 40 referrals and inquiries. The Bail Project helps clients find supportive services like housing and drug treatment. They arrange transportation, remind clients of court dates. 

“We help fix some of the destabilizing influences in their life that might have led to their arrest in the first place,” McCree-Wilson said. 

When the bail is returned, it goes back into the fund and is used for another person. And they get the bail money back 96% of the time. 

What does that tell you? That with a little help, people will show up for their court date. Getting reminders and getting transportation is crucial. I know I would have missed my dentist appointment last week if the office hadn’t called me. Seems someone could do that for court dates. 

I think the Bail Project fund is a great value proposition for charitable giving. You give money once, it gets recycled over and over. They have funders, including the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, but welcome donations. 

Eliminating cash bail helps alleviate jail crowding and saves taxpayers money because you don’t have to keep non-dangerous people in jail at $120 a day or so for weeks or months. If paying for a Lyft and making some phone calls is what makes the difference, that’s a lot cheaper than jail. 

“Illinois banned cash bail in 2023. It’s preliminary data, but crime hasn’t gone up and people haven’t missed any more court dates,” McCree-Wilson said. 

“36% of Bail Project clients in Cincinnati and 24% of Bail Project clients in Cleveland go on to have their cases dismissed, meaning that – without our intervention – they would have been unnecessarily incarcerated,” McCree-Wilson said. 

It seems to me we can mete out punishment to people who deserve it without carelessly wrecking people’s lives and spending money unnecessarily, having one system of justice for the poor and another for the rich, and ignoring the bedrock of America’s legal system, that you are innocent until proven guilty. 

bailproject.org 

Polly Campbell covered restaurants and food for the Cincinnati Enquirer from 1996 until 2020. She lives in Pleasant Ridge with her husband, and since retiring does a lot of reading, cooking and gardening, if that’s what you call pulling weeds. She writes monthly on a variety of topics, and she welcomes your feedback and column suggestions at editor(at)moversmakers.org.