tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post95420255123315922..comments2024-03-25T20:06:39.794-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: House County Affairs Committee examines jail overcrowding, homelessness and substance abuseGritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-40624082236418476352012-07-21T18:15:22.059-05:002012-07-21T18:15:22.059-05:00Some great ideas in these comments but getting buc...Some great ideas in these comments but getting bucks back from acounty would be next to impossible. Ideally, all those fees should be escrowed and either refunded if case is dismissed or four N G, or then pd. into County general general fund upon conviction and/or defendant placed on further supervision due to Deferred Adjudication or any other disposition.Atticusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-65580950547475870592012-07-19T17:08:33.744-05:002012-07-19T17:08:33.744-05:00What happens if a person wants out of jail in orde...What happens if a person wants out of jail in order to avoid losing his/her job, children... and that is the reason they agree to bond supervision? Then 2-5 years of paying out the ass for all the little packed in fees on bond supervision is acquitted or found innocent.<br />Is that person refunded all the money they paid for GPS, Testing, Commissary...or is that just a courtesy wrap-around?<br /><br />12:41 That is a good idea, if a person is arrested for an offense and then found not guilty after having paid out the ying yang for months and months for all these fees ( with the exception of commissary, even thigh its highly overpriced) There could be thousands of dollars that the formerly accused person has paid out that they would not have if not for being arrested for a crime they are adjudged not guilty of. They should be reimbursed for all those fees. Bonds, Interlock installation and monitoring M.A.D.D. fees and the untold number of fees and penalties they pile on everyone. I guarantee if the County had to reimburse them they the arrest rate would drop like a stone.The Homeless Cowboyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01230417246214445582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-22862355614930470722012-07-19T12:41:28.350-05:002012-07-19T12:41:28.350-05:00Everyone is guilty until proven innocent. What ha...Everyone is guilty until proven innocent. What happens if a person wants out of jail in order to avoid losing his/her job, children... and that is the reason they agree to bond supervision? Then 2-5 years of paying out the ass for all the little packed in fees on bond supervision is acquitted or found innocent.<br />Is that person refunded all the money they paid for GPS, Testing, Commissary...or is that just a courtesy wrap-around?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-39253743738404044542012-07-19T12:40:53.927-05:002012-07-19T12:40:53.927-05:00County jails are at the beginning of the corruptio...County jails are at the beginning of the corruption of our justice system. Travis County spends more than half its budget on the jail system, last I read. The core issue is failure to respect the principle of guilty until proven innocent. As noted by other commenters, jail/prison is a huge business. Don't hold your breath waiting for any law that would curtail the money made by bail bondsmen. Too many of our legislators have a financial interest in keeping the present system.<br /><br />Meanwhile, buckle your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride. Twenty percent of our troops are thought to have some degree of PTSD. Those men and women are already beginning to flood our mental health and justice systems. Some jails try to understand and help. Others, like Comal County, deliberately thwart efforts to get mentally ill vets into care. But do not doubt that our system is about to be swamped by the sheer numbers of vets suffering ill effects of the service WE sent them to do. Mark my words- Today's "heroes" will be tomorrow's homeless and prisoners. And those patriotic folks who slapped those yellow ribbons on their SUV's will blithely avert their eyes from the disgrace of how these "heroes" were treated.Phillip Bakernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-32677997779005508682012-07-19T12:12:53.694-05:002012-07-19T12:12:53.694-05:00This is all about Prisons for profits. It starts ...This is all about Prisons for profits. It starts with the arrest. Criminal Justice is big business!!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-21594210375428657362012-07-18T20:38:39.101-05:002012-07-18T20:38:39.101-05:00Sorry for the spelling, touchpad sucks to type on....Sorry for the spelling, touchpad sucks to type on.Due Process?noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-90729503229142519762012-07-18T20:36:45.595-05:002012-07-18T20:36:45.595-05:00I thought bond was created to ensure that offender...I thought bond was created to ensure that offenders returne to court?<br /><br />Apparently it is Probation without due process and you can now be to do and pay damn near everything that an offender is required to do on probation. Unfortunately, there is a limitation to the amount of time you can be on probation and there is no such limitation on bond. A DA can just keep stalling on a hearing and three years later after being on GPS, Substance abuse treatment... you are then placed on 10 years of probatoin with no credit for time no bond supervision.<br /><br />Most importantly, there are no regulations as to the programs an offender is required to pay for on bond, unlike probation. SO YES, Bond supervision is quickly becoming an unregulated cash cow for counties and another abuse to be use by Prosecutors.Due Process?noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-25806783065674467932012-07-18T20:16:22.130-05:002012-07-18T20:16:22.130-05:00Silly me! Agreeing with Anon 6:10 one thing that...Silly me! Agreeing with Anon 6:10 one thing that surprises me in my home county is the amount of pre-trial jail detention. Like Anon, I thought this was determined by violence or flight risk potential. Apparently not so...most are nonviolent offenders. And from an expense and medical risk standpoint, the newly jailed are remarkably unstable medically--most have been living under a culvert or even if they are sick they haven't been on their medications, so the potential for serious medical events and/or suicide cant be discounted. The risks that the cities and counties take on boggles my mind--not to mention the risks for the offenders.<br /><br />The whole damn system is screwy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-21796988356374389332012-07-18T18:10:58.025-05:002012-07-18T18:10:58.025-05:00Only those who are truly dangerous or a serious ri...Only those who are truly dangerous or a serious risk of absconding should be held in pre-trial detention. Every one else should be released and should not have to go into debt to make bail. The state should do what the feds did a long time ago: do away with money bonds. It works in the federal system. It would work at the state level too. The problem is, of course, then that would put the bail bondsmen out of money and who'd then pay the bribes to the judges and sheriffs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com