The following link is to a story published in the Richmond Times Dispatch concerning the overcrowding in Richond City jails and the proposed fix... read and take note.
I have included some of the more ... prevocative lines in the article... read the entire article at this link
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/local ... 50bc7.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
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"Prosecutor's plan tackles overcrowding at City Jail"
BY REED WILLIAMS Richmond Times-Dispatch
For many Richmond defendants awaiting trial on relatively minor charges, the days of having to post a cash bond to get released from jail may be coming to an end.
As the city continues searching for ways to lower the inmate population in the run-up to the opening of a new jail, Richmond prosecutors are going to stop asking judges to set cash bonds for many defendants who are not considered a safety risk.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that he is now directing his prosecutors — when handling cases in which they normally would request a bond of less than $10,000 — to instead ask a judge to release the defendant on his own word that he will return to court and stay out of trouble.
Herring’s new policy, which comes amid ongoing concerns that the new $134 million jail will already be overcrowded when it opens early next year, is highly unpopular with local bail bondsmen. They say that releasing more defendants on their own recognizance would hurt their businesses and remove an incentive for defendants to show up in court.
“I don’t think the judges are going to go for it,” said Wayne Schneider, a bail bondsman who works in the Richmond area.
Generally, a defendant who is granted bail pays a bail bondsman about 10 percent of the bail amount, and the bondsman is responsible for the full amount, should the defendant skip town.
Meanwhile, the bail bondsmen in the Richmond area strongly oppose Herring’s efforts.
Bill Weisband, a Fredericksburg-area bondsman who works in the Richmond area, said Herring’s new policy threatens to put some bondsmen out of business.
“In my business, probably 80 percent, 85 percent (of bonds) are under $10,000,” Weisband said. “I think what the commonwealth’s attorney is doing is very short-sighted.”
Bondsman Schneider said he is worried that defendants will get into more trouble because they will have no financial incentive to return to court.
“This is how I feel about it: When a person doesn’t have a stake in the game — a financial responsibility to come back to court — what is going to give them the incentive to go back to court?” Schneider said. “They’ll have to hire more deputies to go look for these people.”I just made several comments on the newspapers website.
