Dear Governor Jared Polis,
In the United States, today we have the highest percentage of our population in jails and prisons across the country. According to a statistic from 2018 reported by CNN, “nearly 2.2 million adults were held in America’s prisons and jails at the end of 2016” (Kann, Paragraph 2). We have the highest incarceration rates in the United States compared to the rest of the world and it has gotten worse over the past years. Some people may say that we should not change our prison system because it has worked in the past. But, with having so many people in jails and prisons it also increases the amounts United States citizens pay on taxes to support our jail and prison systems. Although some people may not agree on the changes, it is essential to change the ways on how we go about our prison system not just for the prisoners themselves but also for the average United States tax payer to be able to spare some money. One way we can do this is by changing the way that the cash bail system is configured. Far to many people are sent to jail because they can not pay the amount of the bail that is required of them. This will not only help the people going to prison but it will also effect the amount of people going to jail, the court system, and the United States tax payer.
This system is already in the process of being changed in various states around the United States including New Jersey, Arizona, California, and New York. They decided to change from the old cash bail system to a system that decides bail based off risk assessment. In 2017 “The New York Times” reports that, “33,000 in New York couldn’t post bail at their initial hearing. They went strait from the court house to jail because they were simply poor” (Traub, Paragraph 1). People are paying taxes for these people who could not post bail because they were just to poor. Although some people might say that it is dangerous to move from a cash based system compared to a risk assessment one. This is a concern expressed by the ACLU when California first changed their law because their could be interference with racial prejudice. But, by moving to this new system people who simply cannot post bail because they are too poor but have a low threat assessment will be let go.
One way this story is shown is through a person named Kalief Browder. “The New York Times” reported a story about him saying, “when he was 16, Kalief Browder was accused of stealing a backpack and released on $3,000 bail, which his family could not afford. Mr. Browder spent nearly three years in jail on Rikers Island waiting for trial before the charges against him were dismissed” (Paragraph 13). Kalief did not actually even commit the crime yet he had to spend three years in jail awaiting trail just to later get dismissed for not actually doing anything wrong. Although $3,000 dollars might be an easy bail for some people not everyone can afford this type of bail. Therefor, a new bail system that is based off threat level will work better for the poorer people who can not spare to spend their money.
Creating a new bail system does raise questions on that the United States is a capitalist society so why would an new system strive away from that. Although this is a good point, the United States has relied on this system for a very long time and it has only resulted in the jailing of poor people. The United States has already made significant strides to helping the poorer population so the next step would be to help with reforming the policies on cash bails. Not everyone has enough money to post a bail so they should not be punished for something as simple as that. Changing our jailing system to a system based off risk assessment will not only take more people out of jail who should not be there but it will also save money for the average tax payer because they will not have to pay for someone’s jail time.
Works Cited
Kann, Drew. “The US Still Incarcerates More People than Any Other Country.” CNN, Cable News Network, 21 Apr. 2019, http://www.cnn.com/2018/06/28/us/mass-incarceration-five-key-facts/index.html.
Traub, Alex. “How Does Bail Work, and Why Do People Want to Get Rid of It?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Jan. 2019, http://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/nyregion/how-does-bail-work-and-why-do-people-want-to-get-rid-of-it.html.
“Why The ACLU Opposes California’s Decision To Eliminate Cash Bail.” NPR, NPR, 29 Aug. 2018, http://www.npr.org/2018/08/29/643062086/why-the-aclu-opposes-californias-decision-to-eliminate-cash-bail.
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