Despite new law, Texas still has far to go on bail reform
Over the summer, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law the Damon Allen Act on the promise that making it harder for some defendants accused of violent crimes to be released ahead of their trial would make Texas safer. But while it was called bail reform, it did little to nothing to reform Texas’ unfair use of cash bail to decide who must stay behind bars until their day in court.
As someone who has firsthand experience in our criminal courts, I also can confidently tell you that this new law will do next to nothing to improve community safety.
Despite all the heated debates, men and women in Texas are still held in jail before trial on the basis of how much money they have. Working-class moms and dads remain behind bars while millionaire murderers who can afford to post nearly any bail go free.
Until we end this practice of wealth-based detention, no amount of fiddling around the edges will make Texans any safer. In fact, by fortifying cash bail and limiting how people can be released before trial, the new law could actually hurt Texans who need help.
I know the reality of this broken system because I spent nine months in Harris County Jail for substance use. Twenty years of service as a combat veteran in the U.S. Navy had left me suffering with post-traumatic stress and illegal substances were my go-to for self-medication. As a conservative Republican and Harris County homeowner, I have little sympathy for the hardened criminals who threaten our neighborhoods and businesses. But I’m just as frustrated with a state that spent the last legislative session reinforcing wealth-based detention instead of reforming it.
Not only is this system fundamentally unfair, it also can’t distinguish between threats to public safety and problems of personal health. As a result, Texans who are disabled or struggling with addiction end up filling our jails.
The Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health found that “adults with untreated mental health conditions are eight times more likely to be incarcerated than the general population,” according to a study published in 2016.
And researchers have found that the shock of incarceration drives people suffering from mental illness and substance abuse to take their own lives while in custody. They found that nearly 77 percent of the men and women who die by suicide in jails are still legally innocent, waiting for their trials and, likely, in dire need of addiction or mental health treatment.
Texas should be looking to treat and support recovery from mental health problems. Unfortunately the wait list for transfer to a state mental health hospital is currently over 1,450 deep — a wait of 18 months or more — leaving far too many disabled Texans stuck in jails, unable to receive needed medical help.
Given our state’s failure to add new psychiatric care beds, it should be no surprise that the Harris County Jail effectively serves as the state’s largest mental health facility.
Police officers shouldn’t have to do double-duty as psychologists. Sheriff ’s deputies shouldn’t have to moonlight as addiction experts. Yet that is how our criminal justice system works today.
Meanwhile, the latest changes to bail only worsen this crisis by limiting personal bonds and placing heavy restrictions on charitable bond organizations that can get Texans out of jail and back to their jobs, families and medical treatment while awaiting their day in court.
As a result, mental health issues fester in overcrowded jails, jobs are lost, families suffer and taxpayers get stuck with the bill. Nearly 75 percent of people in jails are awaiting trial or sentencing, costing Texas taxpayers nearly $1 billion each year.
Nobody is happy with the way things work in our criminal courts, but I see too many pundits, politicians and loudmouths on social media arguing that we need to simply double-down on this broken cash bail system.
Instead Texas needs to listen to law enforcement, to the local judges, to the disability rights and mental health advocates and to veterans like me. We’ve been in the trenches and I've literally been on the front lines. The cash bail status quo helps the rich and hurts everyone else.
We need something new.