60% of jail inmates are there simply because they are too poor to afford bail.. .....By Jason Flom

As the nation gears up for the final presidential debate between candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, last Sunday's showdown – which some commentators called the "ugliest debate in American history"– is at the forefront of our minds. Standing mere miles from Ferguson, Missouri, the site of protests over a criminal justice system run amok, that debate did not address policing, reducing unnecessary incarceration or racial justice. This was a missed opportunity to confront one of our justice system's most obvious flaws, and one Missourians know all too well: how cash bail makes the poorest among us even poorer, regardless of guilt or innocence.
This shouldn't be news. As Robert F. Kennedy said 50 years ago, "Only one factor determines whether a defendant stays in jail before he comes to trial. That factor is not guilt or innocence. It is not the nature of the crime. It is not the character of the defendant. That factor is, simply, money." In response, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Bail Reform Act, which all but ended bail in federal criminal cases. Johnson called money bail "archaic and unjust."
Yet half a century later, not much has changed in the states, as Ferguson's experience shows. A few jurisdictions have made some reforms – but it's time for legislatures to abolish money bail altogether.
Here's how bail works: After arrest, the defendant goes before a judge. Generally, the judge has two choices: set a fixed amount of money that the defendant can pay and go free; or deny bail and send the defendant to jail to await his court date. The overwhelming majority of suspects fit into the first category, yet most cannot afford their bail and end up behind bars for weeks, months or even years awaiting their trial. As a result, 60 percent of jail inmates – half a million people nationwide – are there simply because they are poor.
Recent stories vividly illustrate the problem. In Texas, Sandra Bland died in jail while waiting for her family to scrape together $500 for bail after she was wrongfully arrested in a traffic stop. Tyrone Tomlin was arrested on his lunch break in New York City because police thought his drinking straw was "drug paraphernalia." He lost three weeks of pay and was brutally beaten by fellow inmates – all because he couldn't pay $1,500. His case was ultimately dismissed. Just last week, another man died in jail while repeatedly pleading with guards for medical treatment. For just $2,500, he could have been free.
Meanwhile, real estate magnate Robert Durst famously bragged to filmmakers about skipping town after posting $250,000 in bail when charged with a gruesome murder in Texas. At the time Durst was a suspect in two previous murders. In 2015 in New York, Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng, accused of bribing United Nations officials, paid $20 million to remain in his Midtown luxury apartment instead of in jail.
The moneyed retain their liberty, while the poor, guilty of nothing more than lacking the cash to buy their freedom, suffer through the appalling conditions plaguing America's jails. Dangerous and filthy, these jails are breeding grounds for diseases and violence, including beatings and rapes. In Harris County, Texas, 55 people have been murdered in jail awaiting trial since 2009. And even brief jail stays can cause people to lose their jobs, fueling a cycle of poverty and crime.
These financial disparities translate into racial disparities. African-Americans are jailed at four times the rate of Caucasians, and although they constitute only 13 percent of this country's population, they are 36 percent of jail inmates.
This inequitable system contributes to both mass incarceration and increased crime. Nonviolent defendants jailed before trial were four times more likely to receive prison sentences and three times more likely to receive longer prison sentences than those who walked free before their trials, according to a 2013 study by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. Those jailed for or even brief periods, 8 to 14 days, were 51 percent more likely to recidivate after they completed their sentences.
It's imperative to remember bail's original purpose: money posted to ensure the defendant will appear for trial. Yet, as a practical matter, money bail, and the inability to post it, act as a crude sieve, prejudging guilt and dangerousness before defendants can make their case.
For many, a quick guilty plea may seem like a faster route to freedom than continuing to wait months in jail. That's why 90 percent of defendants held pretrial plead guilty – many of whom we know to be innocent. It is also much harder to formulate a defense while incarcerated; visiting hours and other restrictions mean lawyers have limited time to work with their clients. Bail now has little to do with whether the accused will appear for trial, but rather is a tool of coercion.
Broken bail systems also cost taxpayers. It costs an astonishing $173,000 a year to keep one inmate on Riker's Island.
We can fix bail in this country. Some groups have already started fighting back. Equal Justice Under Law has won class action suits forcing certain county courts in Alabama, Missouri and other states to consider a defendant's ability to pay when setting bail. The Bronx Freedom Fund collected $120,000 in donations last year to post bail for indigent defendants. Ninety-seven percent of those Freedom Fund clients made all their court appearances
Better yet, Kentucky and Washington, D.C. have ended money bail altogether and replaced it with a system that prioritizes public safety. In D.C.'s "risk assessment" model, a judge first weighs the likelihood that a defendant will appear for court dates and the risk he will commit another crime while awaiting trial. High-risk defendants are held and all others are let go. In D.C., 88 percent of defendants appear for all their court dates. After Kentucky enacted a similar program in 2011, the percent of its jail population awaiting trial fell to 43 percent, well below the national average of 60 percent. These systems aren't perfect, but they are far better than other states'.
We can build on these successes to bring change nationwide. A model regime would consist of the following elements. First, there should be a presumption of pretrial release in all states, following the federal system's model. Second, state courts should begin every criminal case by deciding whether the suspect presents a low, medium or high risk of flight or committing a dangerous crime. Only high-risk defendants should be jailed pretrial, and such decisions should not be taken lightly. This way, detentions would be made based on public safety and individuals would not be torn from their families, jobs, and society unnecessarily. And until money bail is abolished, courts should be required to set bail based on a defendant's ability to pay.
We need to push our lawmakers to end the cruel and capricious system of money bail. Only then will guilt and innocence, not cash, tip the scales of justice.