Reforms offered to make S.F. bail easier for poor

Growing up poor in San Francisco, Tanea Lunsford learned that when a loved one was arrested, it wasn’t just that person who got punished.

It was members of her extended family who couldn’t afford to buy school uniforms for the children that year because they had to use the money to bail somebody out, she said. It was mothers and aunts who had to scrap enough cash together for jailed husbands and sons, while also raising kids in one of the most expensive cities in the country.

“Money bail hurts you when you can pay it, and it hurts you when you can’t pay it,” said Lunsford, now an activist with the Essie Justice Group, an Oakland nonprofit that helps women with in-

carcerated family members. “It means sacrifice when you can pay it, but, when you can’t, it means your loved one is incarcerated before their trial. It means they’re desperate to do anything to come home, including taking a plea deal.”

Lunsford’s experience isn’t unique, according to a report set to be released Wednesday by San Francisco Treasurer José Cisneros. In it, he slams the current bail system, saying it penalizes the poor, and offers a series of recommendations for reforming it.

“It is essential that government holds people accountable, and that there are consequences when people break rules or laws,” Cisneros wrote. “But we need to do so in a way that is fair and just, and doesn’t dig struggling San Franciscans into even deeper holes. Government should be an equalizer of opportunity, not another driver of inequality.”

The report is the latest broadside against a money bail system that is under attack from all sides of the city’s criminal justice system. The mayor, the district attorney, the public defender, the sheriff and the city attorney, among others, want an overhaul that ensures risk to public safety, not wealth, determines whether people are released from jail before trial.

But San Francisco’s ability to make changes is limited. The bail system is mandated by state law, and legislation that would mostly get rid of it is not expected to pass this year.

To be freed from jail before trial, people who are arrested can either pay their full bail amount — in which case they get a full refund if they make their court appearances — or pay a percentage of the bail to a bail bond agent, typically 10 percent, which they don’t get back.

According to Cisneros’ report, more than 99 percent of people who post bail in San Francisco can only afford to pay a percentage. As a result, city residents — largely people of color and residents of low-income neighborhoods — pay up to $15 million a year in nonrefundable fees, the report found.

In the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, residents post more than 500 bonds a year, costing $1 to $2 million, the report says. Residents of the Tenderloin/Civic Center area post more than 350 bonds a year, totaling $1 to $1.5 million.

“It’s just an unfair system,” said city Supervisor Hillary Ronen. “It’s grandmothers, mothers, wives, daughters who have to work, beg, borrow and barter in order to pay for bail, and a lot of these women are my constituents.”

Ronen is scheduled to take up the bail system during Wednesday’s meeting of the supervisors’ public safety committee. She said Tuesday she is working on legislation pushing for more regulation of the bail bond industry, one of the recommendations of the treasurer’s report.

Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney for the California Bail Agents Association, said the report unfairly characterizes the industry, noting that the state Department of Insurance prohibits bail bond companies from returning peoples’ fees, even if criminal charges are dismissed. However, she said, “The bail industry is on board with some reforms to the system.”

“The system could certainly be improved, and if you talk to many bail agents, they would agree that San Francisco’s bail schedule is much higher than some adjoining counties,” she said of the bail amounts attached to certain crimes, which are set by San Francisco Superior Court. “That creates a disparity and that begs the question as to why it’s much higher here than other urban regions in this country. But you can’t pin that on the bail industry. The bail industry is simply there to provide one of multiple ways for people to handle custody arrests.”

Among the recommendations in Cisneros’ report is that San Francisco explore the creation of a revolving nonprofit fund that would help poor people afford bail. Moreover, he said, San Francisco should continue to push for a lowering of the bail schedule and for statewide legislation.

The report urged the continuation of local efforts to reduce the impact of the money bail system. It cited Mayor Ed Lee’s allocating of funds to the city’s pretrial diversion project, which offers alternatives to jail time for nonviolent offenders, and to the public defender’s pretrial release unit, which will represent people soon after their arrests rather than waiting for them to be charged and brought into court.