How the Bail Bond Industry Became a $2 Billion Business

[Uncle Joe]

Since 1970, the population of incarcerated people in the United States has grown 700%, and jails account for the bulk of this expansion. In fact, 99% of the rise in incarceration between 1999 and 2014 involved the pre-trial population — people who have not yet been found guilty of a crime but are jailed because they can’t afford bail.

There are a lot of reasons for the boom in incarceration, but bail plays an especially crucial role. And despite the veneer of accountability suggested by bail, it’s a system propped up less by the pursuit of justice and more by profit motives, according to the ACLU of California.

Typically, defendants who can’t afford bail have the option to use a bail bondsman, who usually charges a percentage of the total bail amount for their services. In return, the bail agent files a bond for the full amount to secure a person’s release from jail. Unlike when a person pays bail directly to the court, using a bail bondsman means they won’t get their money back, even if the case gets dismissed. And, they may end up signing a contract that includes waiving privacy rights and paying hundreds more in additional fees.

But bail bondsmen don’t maintain the industry alone. The real backbone of the bail bond industry is corporate insurance companies that underwrite the industry, profit from poverty, and aggressively resist any efforts to reform bail practices.

(snip)



https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/bail-bond-industry-2-billion-poverty/

[Dennis Donovan]

1. Kick and rec - very important story!

[Uncle Joe]

2. A 21st century version of debtor's prison.

[msongs]

3. prosecutors have for profit jails to fill, but pre trials prisoners are ok too nt

[Uncle Joe]

4. I hear you msongs.

It always causes me to have emotions of bittersweet melancholy, whenever I hear the U.S. being referred to as "the land of the free."