This Missouri jail lets a company charge hefty fees on bail. That’s not justice
From 7 a.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday, 22 people were booked into the Boone County Jail in Columbia. Of that number, 19 had bail set, in amounts ranging from $150 to $32,000. By the time the daily jail report was posted, 11 had found a way to meet that obligation.
Those who remain must wait for a chance to go before a judge to have their bail reduced or ask for release on recognizance, a promise to return to court when required.
Those who paid had a variety of options. Cash works. So does calling a bail bond company and paying a fee, usually about 10 percent of the bail.
The Daily Tribune reported over the weekend about another option: using a debit or credit card, now the most common method of paying for everyday expenses. That’s a good convenience. Since most cards allow purchases in larger amounts than cash withdrawals, and a person sitting in jail has no access to an ATM, it should be a way to pay.
But what made it news is the high cost of choosing that option, and who gets the extra money. It appears that the county has hired an Illinois company that specializes in milking the cash cow of bail for profits at the expense of desperate people.
Moneta Enterprises LLC signed a contract with the county in 2010 that set $20 as the minimum fee for a bail payment made with cards. For bails between $9,000 and $10,000, the fee was $800. It could go even higher for bails above $10,000.
When concerns were raised about that deal in 2013, the contract was modified. It is now a flat 7 percent of the bond, which saves $100 for the person with a $10,000 bond.
The company has contracts with 70 circuit clerks around the state, but not all accept bail payments through the system. In Audrain County, for example, the cost of using a debit or credit card to pay bail is a flat $2.75.
Daily Tribune reporter Pat Pratt was contacted about it because the Columbia social justice group Race Matters, Friends has a community bond fund to help indigent people get out of jail. A quick release for a low-income person in jail on a minor offense can save a job, keep families together and reduce many kinds of taxpayer costs.
Criminal justice reformers across the political spectrum and all around the country are recognizing that. On July 1, new Missouri Supreme Court rules will take effect intended to release people as soon as possible for as low a cost as possible consistent with public safety.
“We all share a responsibility to protect the public — but we also have a responsibility to ensure those accused of crime are fairly treated according to the law, and not their pocketbooks,” state Chief Justice Zel Fischer said in his January State of the Judiciary address to lawmakers.
Today, Race Matters, Friends counts on the return of bail posted for one defendant to fund bail for the next. Paying multiple fees at once would deplete their account.
The reason for adding a fee to process a payment made by plastic for bail or some other government agency is a sound one. Every time a payment by debit or credit card is processed, every company that handles it takes a tiny cut, generally about 1.5 to 3 percent of the total.
County collectors can’t get away with turning over just 97 percent of the tax money they receive to the entities that will spend it. And circuit clerks must return the full bail amount to defendants who meet their obligations to the court.
When a defendant hires a bond company, he or she knows there’s a fee to pay, but that also means they don’t have to pony up an even larger amount to deposit with the court. My home state of Kentucky realized in 1976 that defendants would be better off if they kept the money that would go to a bond agent directly with the court, allowing most defendants to be free on 10 percent of the stated bail and outlawing the bail bond business.
Requiring the full bail and also tacking on a fat fee is the worst possible combination. It is encouraging that all three Boone County Commissioners have said they intend to study it.
They should consider how the transaction fee fits the spirit of the new state rules and remember the words of former Associate Circuit Judge Josh Devine, who was on the bench from February 2018 until he was defeated in November. During a candidate forum in October, the Republican said that he quickly learned how much a few dollars means for many of the people in jail. Even the bond company’s fee on a small bail can be difficult to pay, he noted.
“There is literally nobody that I know in my world that can’t come up with $25 or $50 to get themselves out of custody,” he said. “Yet I have people every day (in court) who are in that situation.”