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Broward County Florida – Broward County has always been know for its overcrowding of local jail. In recent years, the induction of Pretrial services has seem to reduce the overcrowding problem. Or has it? Both local Bail bondsman and the County commission may be working together to kill this program. Recent talk about what would be more cost effective. The cost of the program as compared to the $1,000 a day fine that would be assessed as a result of willfully terminating the federal court order program. Broward County Commissioner Ilene Lieberman said, “When I look at what we would pay if the jail were overcapacity versus what we’re paying for the program, we’re probably better off letting the jail be overcapacity, and we’ll save more money that way,”. By ending the pretrial intervention program would most likely increase the overcrowding and force Broward County to build new jail facilities.
The local bail bond association in Broward county have hired Ron Book to lobby for the termination of the pretrial release program. Book’s proposal would preclude non-indigent inmates from participating in the program. Non-indigent inmates make up about 40 percent of the program. A second version has been hammered out that singles out only non-indigent inmates who have committed dangerous crimes or have a history of missing court dates. Read full story
I’ll tell you what good pretrial release does for the community, nothing. Leaving the responsibility of a defendants appearance in court to private bail bond business ultimately reduces the failure to appear rate not to mention saving the taxpayers millions of dollars. the failure to appear rate dramatically increases with the implementation of these pretrial services. However going through a bail bond agency holds the contacted parties financially responsible to that defendants appearance, ultimately reducing the number of “no shows” to court. Not only does pretrial services increase the FTA (failure to appear), and increase tax payer money, but also puts local bonding agencies out of business. Tell us what you think?
