Bail reform seen helping the poor

Bond industry voices opposition

HARTFORD — A judicial committee of Superior Court judges is considering a move that proponents say will make it easier for low-income defendants with minimal bonds to remain free while their criminal court cases proceed.

But bondsmen, who stand to lose money on the deal, are calling the plan a veiled attempt to put more money in state coffers.

Under the proposal, which is supported by the state’s Sentencing Commission, Chief Public Defender and the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, criminal defendants would automatically be allowed to put up 10 percent cash to the court or a police department to be released on a surety bond of $20,000 or less.

The 10 percent collected for bond would be returned, minus any fees incurred, when the court case is completed. Defendants who skip out on the court case would be required to pay the entire bond.

“Most people with surety bonds use a bail bondsman to secure release,” according to testimony provided by the state’s Sentencing Commission, which is examining ways to allow defendants to be released without financial conditions. “Bondsmen require a nonrefundable payment of a percentage of the bond amount. An automatic option of 10 percent to the court would assist indigent persons to make a bond.”

As of Jan. 1, about 500 people were held in state prisons on bonds less than

$20,000, according to the ACLU-CT.

“Many people being held pre-trial on small bond amounts are accused of minor, nonviolent crimes, including drug possession,” said David McGuire, executive director of the ACLUCT. “They have not been convicted of a crime and should be treated as innocent until proven guilty, yet they remain in jail because they lack the resources to pay their way free.”

Defendants can exercise the 10 percent cash option if their bond is lower than

$20,000 and a judge grants it. The change being considered by The Rules Committee of the Superior Court, a judicial body comprised entirely of judges, would allow all defendants to automatically have the 10 percent cash option.

The committee oversees rule changes in the state’s legal practice book — the extensive document that provides guidance over all court proceedings. The judges heard testimony Monday on the proposal but are not expected to make a decision for several weeks.

Bondsmen say the change could backfire. Defendants or their families pay bondsmen a state regulated fee of

$850 for a $10,000 surety bond, said Will Munck, a bondsman with Afford-ABail, which bonds out defendants in New Haven and throughout the state.

“They don’t have to put up

$1,000, which they would with the 10 percent option,” Munck said.