Malloy zings GOP on bail reform
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the Connecticut leader of the NAACP pushed back Monday at Republican opposition to Malloy’s proposed bail reforms, casting them as an overdue blow for racial and economic equality.
Malloy said Republicans are misrepresenting the impact of eliminating bail for most misdemeanors, which he says would free hundreds of prisoners routinely held on low bonds because of the paucity of their finances and not the seriousness of their alleged crimes.
“What I’m simply saying is poor people shouldn’t be treated differently simply because they are poor,” Malloy said.
His news conference with Scott X. Esdaile, president of the Connecticut chapter of the NAACP, was an attempt to simultaneously reassure jittery Democratic allies and give second thoughts to Republican opponents.
“Now, I don’t know how that’s a bad issue for Democrats,” Malloy said of his bill. “Quite frankly, I don’t know how that’s a good issue for Republicans. Why don’t they tell the truth? ‘We want to keep people in jail because they are poor.’ Because that’s the system. That’s the system... The only ones who are stuck are poor people.”
Bail reform is one of two major elements in “An Act Concerning a Second Chance,” a measure awaiting action in a special session called primarily to address budget bills. The other is a more controversial plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 21 for other-than-major felonies.
Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Branford, responded by challenging Malloy to focus his Second Chance initiative for 2016 on bail reform, which he supports in concept.
“Republicans and Democrats agree that the poor should not be kept in jail simply because they are poor. If Gov. Malloy truly cared about helping the poor who get stuck in jail because they can’t afford to pay small bonds, he would drop the ‘raise-the-age’ portion of his proposal, which has raised serious concerns amongst Republicans and Democrats alike,” Fasano said. “He would talk to Republicans about working together to reform the bail system and would be open to considering a Republican proposal to eliminate bond requirements for non-violent, victimless, non-selling misdemeanor drug offenses.”