In California, bail insurance corporations’ impact and influence is exposed as the Legislature considers reforms to the state’s unjust and costly money bail system

By ACLU San Diego and Imperial Counties

On May 11th, Color Of Change and the American Civil Liberties Union’s Campaign for Smart Justice released a scathing national report exposing insurance corporations’ hand in creating an unnecessary and largely unaccountable $2 billion bail industry. The report, Selling Off Our Freedom: How Insurance Corporations Have Taken Over Our Bail System, outlines the insurance industry’s role in a money bail system that ensnares thousands of people in detention or debt – or both – as well as the industry’s significant impact and influence in California.

“We all want a justice system that works for everyone,” said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, Criminal Justice and Drug Policy Director of the ACLU of California.“Sadly, the current money bail system puts bail insurance corporations’ profits before justice. These conglomerates reap tremendous benefits at low risk, while trapping people in debt and evading oversight. This is not a system of justice. It is a system of corporate greed.”   [Read more…]

By Dave Maass / Electronic Frontier Foundation

Police in California have your data literally at their fingertips.

They can sit at a computer terminal or in their squad car and check your DMV records, your criminal records, your parking citations, any restraining orders you’ve filed or have been filed against you. They can search other state databases and even tap into the FBI’s trove. If you’ve got a snowmobile, they can look up that registration too. Much of this personal data they can access through a smartphone app.   [Read more…]

By Udi Ofer / ACLU Blog

Attorney General Jeff Sessions knows that the United States is the world’s leading incarcerator. We imprison more people than any other nation in the world. But apparently he likes that distinction because he just doubled down on it, guaranteeing that more people will be locked up for drug offenses in America’s federal prisons.

Last week Sessions issued a new policy reversing the work done by former Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. to reduce long mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses.   [Read more…]

By ACLU of California

Every year, California’s money bail system keeps thousands of people in jail before they get their day in court – all because they can’t afford to post bail and buy their freedom. The median bail amount in California is $50,000.

When this happens, people stay in jail for weeks, months, and sometimes years while their cases move forward, or plead guilty to a crime they may not have committed.   [Read more…]