AB109 – Where do they go? Bail can help.

 

October 25, 2011

Senate Bill AB109 was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown in May, 2011which requires 30,000 of the roughly 180,000 California prisoners to be sent back to County Jails to serve out their sentences or be released and monitored. Additionally, it requires the county jails to begin housing convicted prisoners that would have normally been sent to state prisons. The law became effective October 1st and the strain on county resources is already being felt, particularly here at the Orange County Jail and Los Angeles County Jail. With already overcrowded jails throughout our state and funding that was already stretched to the limit, this “Realignment Bill” is creating havoc within each counties criminal judicial systems. Each county is now implementing plans to massively increase the size and scope of their probation departments who have been given the task of devising a plan to handle the additional inmates. Most of the solutions being proposed to reduce jail population involve “sentenced” inmates, or inmates that have plead guilty and are serving prison sentences. The release of these inmates will be primarily managed using government funded release programs, such as GPS monitoring or Own Recognizance release.

What is currently missing from most realignment plans I have examined is how privately funded surety bail can help in lowing the “pretrial”jail population while costing counties nothing. Bail is a system of release that has been effective in this country for over a hundred years and to exclude it from helping to solve our current problem is huge mistake.

— Studies show that defendants released on bail are more likely to appear in court and less likely to commit crimes while awaiting trial than on OR release – which saves lives and protects property.

— Surety bail is more cost effective for reducing jail population, because it can save counties millions of dollars every year by preventing court and law enforcement resources from being wasted on the high cost of managing, tracking and apprehending fugitives released — not to mention the cost of additional crimes committed by some defendants on OR or GPS release.

— Bail provides financial accountability for the defendants and helps build a support network by requiring friends and family members to co-sign and put up collateral for the bond.

Bail Bond Professionals, the Orange County bail bond specialist, is committed to becoming part of the solution by encouraging the Orange County Jail, Judges, the District Attorney’s Office and other Orange County officials to use bail release instead of taxpayer funded government releases.

 

June 17, 2011

The ExpertBail Network together with Jason Meyerson of Bail Bond Professionals, have launched a new and exciting bail bond education program for high school students in Orange County. Its’ purpose is to inform and educate students about the dangers of drinking while driving and what to expect if they are arrested.

Fountain Valley High School was chosen as the first school to launch this innovative program and it was extremely well received by students, staff and the media. As a bail bondsman for thirteen years Mr. Meyerson was able to share numerous examples of clients that were straight “A” students with bright futures then chose to drink and drive. These students ended up hurting or killing someone while driving under the influence which landed them in prison for very long sentences, sometime five years or more. “It’s an absolute tragedy that lives are literally ruined and lost by one very poor decision that could have been avoided. We hope this program will encourage teenagers to really think hard before getting behind the wheel”. The Orange County Sheriff Department, Santa Ana Police, Newport Beach Police, Irvine Police and all other Orange County law enforcement agencies are very serious and aggressive when it comes to drinking and driving. Students need to understand in advance the seriousness and consequences if they make the wrong choice.

Fountain Valley High School is the first of hopefully dozens of schools nationwide that could benefit from such a program. Bail Bond Professionals in Orange County is honored to be working with ExpertBail on such a positive effort and is looking forward to growing the program.

To read more about the program click here

 

April 25, 2011

Today the Wall Street Journal featured an article about the bail bond business and how it has been affected by the decline of the real estate market since 2008. The articles author, Dawn Wotapka, contacted Bail Bond Professionals owner Jason Meyerson to discuss how it has changed the way he approaches his business and if more inmates now remain in custody due to the lack of collateral. In the article Ms. Wotapka tries to make a direct connection between lower home values, which equates to less equity in homes to guarantee bail bonds, and an increased jail population. Mr. Meyerson’s response was that the bail industry has adjusted to this change and now takes on much more risk (less collateral) and puts more emphasis on a defendant’s profile to determine if they are a flight risk. Also, the bail industry now commonly offers extended payment plans to make posting bail more affordable. “Our business model has changed since the real estate collapse. We can no longer expect or require full collateral for every bail bond we write”, says Meyerson.

By way of example, the case of defendant Daniel Romero is used in the article. Romero was bailed from the San Diego County Jail in June 2009, by Jason Meyerson of Bail Bond Professionals - Orange County Office (www.orangecounty-bailbonds.com), on a $300,000 bond. Although a family member of Mr. Romero owned a home in San Diego there was little or no equity, so securing it as collateral did little in the way of security if Mr. Romero failed to appear in court and fled the case. Knowing this, Mr. Meyerson instead turned to the multiple friends and family members that were willing to sign personal guarantees and relied on his years of experience profiling defendant’s. Ties to the community and length of time there, criminal history, education and employment, marital status and whether a defendant has children or not, are all factors that are used to determine if a defendant poses a flight risk or not. In Mr. Romero’s case it was abundantly clear that he was indeed not a flight risk and was given an extended payment plan, which he as stuck to diligently ever since.

To read the article in its entirety click here Wall Street Journal Bail Bond Article.

Click on the Local Community Outreach Program to learn more about how Mr. Meyerson has been helping his local community.

 

Wall Street Journal Article

Local Community Outreach Program