House Bill 340: Mandatory Bail

House Bill 340 introduced in the 2019-2020 legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly would place a requirement on all local governments so that anyone arrested for a crime would have to see a judge before being released and could not be released on a signatory bond or on their own recognizance.

It would undo the local bail reform that was passed in the City of Atlanta in March of 2018 and pre-empt any other communities from undertaking the same reform.

It was assigned to the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee.

As of January 2019, 66% of people in Georgia city and county jails are awaiting trial under pretrial detention.

The result would be that everyone, regardless of offense, would be held in pretrial detention on a money bond and either have to pay out or be held in jail for one or more nights while waiting to see a judge.

Faced with the risk of sitting in jail and potentially losing their job or not being able to take care of their kids, many people even if they don’t have the money, will choose to use a bail bonding company that will cover the fee and allow them to get out immediately. The person then still owes that money to the bonding company, plus a premium and interest, because that’s how they make money.

Over 23,000 Georgians are held in local jails on any given day while waiting to see a judge, mostly for minor offenses.

The state has a high rate of pretrial detention, and most in pre trial detention are in city jails. Georgia’s local jails are at 3/4 capacity already. Will a policy that requires cash bail for almost all offenses increase pretrial detention numbers and strain jail capacity?

74% of the state’s total jail capacity is already full.

Will city and county governments be negatively financially impacted by having to house more people in jail while awaiting trial? Will holding more people on pretrial detention result in more job destabilization and higher rates of recidivism?

Our bail system impacts people of lower income at a disproportionate rate for obvious reasons – they cannot afford to bond out. An increase in the number of low income Georgians being held on pretrial detention would be likely under this bill. This bill would eliminate the judicial discretion which has previously proven to be biased against defendants of color when determining bail, although setting the bond price could still present an opportunity for discretionary bias.

You can find all the Jail Reports generated with state data by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs here.

House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee Members

Percentage of their County Jail Awaiting Trial & Capacity Rate

The data listed below comes from the January 2019 Jail Report from the Department of Community Affairs listing jail population data for all Georgia county jails. Remember that the majority (86%) of those held on pretrial detention in Georgia are held in city jails, so this data only tells part of the story.

• Efstration, Chuck, Chairman
  • Gwinnett County: 70% of the jail population is awaiting trial (1,475)
  • 70% capacity
• Reeves, Bert, Vice Chairman
  • Cobb County: 77% of the jail population is awaiting trial (1,450)
  • 98% capacity
• Gravley, Micah, Secretary
  • Douglas County: 82% of the jail population is awaiting trial (546)
  • 44% capacity
• Ballinger, Mandi L., Member
  • Cherokee County: 85% of the jail population is awaiting trial (424)
  • 97% capacity
• Boddie, William, Member
  • Fulton County: 75% of the jail population is awaiting trial (1897)
  • 94% capacity
• Cooper, Sharon, Member
  • Cobb County: 77% of the jail population is awaiting trial (1,450)
  • 98% capacity
• Dickerson, Pam, Member
  • Rockdale County: 83% of the jail population is awaiting trial (265)
  • 46% capacity
• Fleming, Barry, Member
  • Columbia County: 77% of the jail population is awaiting trial (250)
  • 122% capacity
• Kendrick, Dar’shun, Member
  • DeKalb County: 77% of the jail population is awaiting trial (1,281)
  • 46% capacity
• McLaurin, Josh, Member
  • Fulton County: 75% of the jail population is awaiting trial (1897)
    
  • 94% capacity
• Momtahan, Martin, Member
  • Paulding County: 80% of the jail population is awaiting trial (180)
  • 75% capacity
• Powell, Jay, Member
  • Mitchell County: 78% of the jail population is awaiting trial (42)
  • 47% capacity
• Sainz, Steven, Member
  • Camden County: 90% of the jail population is awaiting trial (120)
  • 123% capacity
• Setzler, Ed, Member
  • Cobb County: 77% of the jail population is awaiting trial (1,450)
    
  • 98% capacity
• Silcox, Deborah, Member
  • Fulton County: 75% of the jail population is awaiting trial (1897)
  • 94% capacity
• Trammell, Robert, Member
  • Meriwether County: 78% of the jail population is awaiting trial (59)
  • 72% capacity