Bail reform proposed with bipartisan support

May 18—COLUMBUS — A bill years in the making to reform an Ohio cash bail system that critics argue keeps poor and minority defendants behind bars while those with financial means remain free pending their court dates was introduced Tuesday with broad bipartisan support.

"You have a system where two individuals charged with the same crime, given the same bail, one of them serves 28 days in jail until he can get to a hearing at which he pleads guilty to the offense," state Sen. Rob McColley (R., Napoleon) said.

"If you have money, you serve two or three days, you post your bail ... and you got out," he said. "At sentencing, you're given the exact same treatment.... Two entirely different outcomes based solely on the income and resources of that individual and not based on the facts and circumstances of the case."

Bills have been introduced in both the Ohio House of Representatives and Senate that would require that cash bond not be the first course sought by courts. They must first look to other alternatives that would still ensure a court appearance.

If still deemed appropriate because of potential risk from the defendant, a cash bond remains an option for judges. But the amount could be set at no more than 25 percent of the defendant's net income after expenses at the end of the month.

A judge would be required to hold a hearing within 48 hours of a defendant's detention to determine net income.

The issue has united Republicans and conservative organizations concerned about the high costs of incarceration and Democrats and liberal groups who see the current system as discriminatory and harmful.

The bills come two years after a task force convened by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor issued a report detailing multiple recommendations, some of which have been put into place through court rules. Among them are requirements that courts first pursue less restrictive alternatives to cash bond, including the use of technology to keep track of defendants until their court dates.

"This was a small first step for justice," Chief Justice O'Connor said. "It was not a giant leap. We are baby steps away from achieving a modernized system of bail, fines, and fees in our state that serves justice for all. But small steps allowed for careful consideration of change, and that is a good thing."

State Rep. David Leland (D., Columbus), a sponsor of the House bill, said 45 of the 99 representatives have signed on. He noted about 60 percent of inmates sitting in local jails — potentially 12,000 people — are there because they can't afford bail, not because they've been convicted of a crime.

While detained, they can lose jobs, fail to make their rent, and potentially lose custody of children, he said.

"These people are in jail, and people who have committed the exact same crimes but are a little wealthier ... can go scot-free because of the jail system."

Shamika Parrish-Wright, operations manager at The Bail Project, recalled how decades ago, while a single teen-age mother in Cincinnati, she pleaded guilty to a lesser crime following her arrest in a domestic violence incident. She spent 38 days in jail on a bail she couldn't afford.

"That's the choice millions of people make ... every single year because of the cash bail system," she said. "...The presumption of innocence only existed on paper."

She now works to help people arrange bail and advocate for reform in a system she said hasn't changed in the decades since.

Lou Tobin, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys' Association, has not seen the latest proposals, but he said any such bill must come with expanded authority for judges and prosecutors to hold defendants without bail when they pose a public danger and additional funding for courts' pretrial services.

"Limiting cash bail without expanded pretrial detention and funding for pretrial services by local courts is playing with fire," he said.

Similar efforts in the past have been opposed by professional bail bondsmen, who argue this would result in an unfunded mandate on local courts and undercut the risk assessments bail bondsmen conduct as part of their mission.

"If anyone in the legislature thinks that public money is better spent toward controlling these people who fail to appear, they are wrong," said Mary Smith, owner of Smith Bonds & Surety in Toledo and immediate past president of the Ohio Professional Bail Bond Association.

"There's no family involved," she said. "There's no skin in the game for these people. There's no reason for them to show up."

She said bail bondsmen, who do have skin in the game, get relatives involved and will travel out of state to pick up defendants to ensure court appearances.

She said the opposition is not about an industry that could lose demand for its services under the bill.

"It's already proven in Lucas County," she said. "How many people are killed and shot every day in Lucas County? I don't care about my job. This has nothing to do with the money. I'm talking about public safety and about making laws that take away an option that could always be a remedy for a judge."

First Published May 18, 2021, 11:49am