ATLANTA– The Bail Project, a national nonprofit that helps thousands of low-income people behind bars, announced Monday that it has closed its Atlanta branch due to a new Georgia law that expands and imposes bail restrictions organizations that post prisoner bonds while they await trial.
Senate Bill 63which goes into effect next month, will require cash bail for 30 additional crimes, including 18 that are always or often felonies, including failing to appear in court for a traffic ticket.
It also limits people and organizations from issuing more than three cash bonds per year unless they meet the requirements to become surety bond companies – a process that involves passing background checks, paying fees, having a business license , gaining the approval of the local sheriff and setting up a cash business. blocked account or other form of collateral.
Cash bail perpetuates a two-tiered justice system, where two people accused of the same crime receive drastically different treatment: those who can afford bail are released, while those who cannot often remain in jail for months awaiting court hearings. said the statement from The Bail Project. said.
“Across the country, more than a dozen jurisdictions have eliminated or minimized cash bail, directing money to services that prevent crime and increase community safety,” the organization said. “Georgia’s lawmakers could have passed similar evidence-based policies, including speedy trial legislation to address court delays and investments in preventive services to reduce reliance on pretrial incarceration. Instead, they chose a path that perpetuates more incarceration, racial inequality, trauma and harm.”
Republican Governor Brian Kemp said at his signing ceremony last month that SB 63 “would ensure that dangerous individuals cannot walk our streets and commit further crimes.” The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia has threatened to sue, calling it “cruel, costly and counterproductive.”
Democrats had urged Kemp to veto the measure, arguing it would worsen prison overcrowding and disproportionately harm poor, minority defendants. They called it a gift to for-profit corporations and a betrayal of Kemp’s predecessor, GOP Gov. Nathan Deal, who made criminal justice reform a hallmark of his legacy.
Since its launch in 2018 The Bail Project said it has paid $81 million to free more than 30,000 people in more than 30 jurisdictions from pretrial detention. That prevented nearly 1.2 million days of incarceration and reduced collateral consequences such as loss of jobs, housing and child custody, the group said.
Those helped by The Bail Project returned to more than 90% of their court appearances, a statistic that, according to the nonprofit, “squashes the idea that cash bail is a necessary incentive to guarantee a person’s future appearance in court .”
