BATTLE OF THE BONDS

JUSTICE Nowadays, if you get arrested and tossed in jail, the county is more likely to bail you out than a bail bond agent. When Dallas County instituted its Pre-trial Release Program in 1972, the idea was for the county to make money, lower the jail population, and provide a low-cost way to get bonded out of jail. But the program has expanded dramatically over the years and now posts bond for almost two-thirds of all jailed offenders who are eligible for bail. Obviously, that takes a big chunk of money away from the bail bonds people, and they’re fighting to get it back.

RAY HUGHES,hired spokesman for the Professional Bail Agents of Dallas, is lobbying the County Commissioners Court, trying to force a change in the bail bond rules. “Many years ago,” says Hughes, “there used to be 70 or more bail agents in Dallas. Now there are only 16 or so.” The county, he complains, is putting independent bail agents out of business by using unfair competition tactics. For one thing, says Hughes, the county’s bond requirements are too lax, letting most people off on nothing more than “$20 and a signature.” JAMES JOHNSON,director of county corrections, says that for $20 to the county-and another $30 to the Sheriff’s Department for processing fees-most misdemeanor offenders can post bail. Bail bond agents would charge twice that. “If they can get out for $50” Johnson says, “why should they pay more?” What Hughes wants is a 72-hour waiting period in which offenders could either post bond through a bail bond agent, post bond themselves, or stay in jail. Only at the end of the waiting period would they be offered the county bond.

But County Commissioner JIM JACKSONdoesn’t swallow the bail agents’ arguments. “The criminal justice system has no obligation to furnish a business for these people,” he says. “To hold people in jail just for them to make money is not a good idea.”