Numbers raise questions about move to reform bail in Maryland
New numbers obtained by the 11 News I-Team raise questions about the move to reform cash bail in Maryland.
It appears Maryland judges are holding more people on no-bail status now than before.
Advocates pushed reform so that people didn't remain in custody simply because they couldn't afford a bail bondsman, but the numbers show something else is happening.
The number of arrests year-to-date in Baltimore City is down, but the average daily population at Central Booking is up considerably. In March 2017, an average of 655 arrestees were held each day at Central Booking. In March 2018, the average jumped to 856 per day, an increase of 23 percent.
State corrections officials said one reason for the big jump is that more people are being held without bail pending trial.
"In our planning, as we've watched this trend of arrests go down for several years now, we would anticipate that your population would be going down, but more people are being held without bail, and it is taking them longer to go through the judicial system in order to have their cases adjudicated," said Gary McIlhinney, with the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
The number of arrestees held without bail at Central Booking increased by 26 percent year over year from March 2017 to March 2018.
"It's a matter of great concern because it undermines the intent of the state's highest court, and what we are seeing is a huge increase statewide and in Baltimore of people being held without bail, where in the past, they might be given a bail that they simply couldn't afford," said Doug Colbert, a professor at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law.
Typically, those held without bail are the most violent suspects of highest risk to public safety and flight. But Baltimore District Court judges are also holding people charged with misdemeanors without bail, and that includes people charged with driving on a revoked license, failing to register as a sex offender, misdemeanor assault and theft.
"So what we have are a lot of people losing jobs, losing homes, away from family, because in the past, they couldn't afford the bail, and currently because they have no bail," Colbert said.
Bail reform took hold last summer when the highest court in Maryland issued a new rule that instructs judges to use money bail as a last resort in cases involving low-risk arrestees.