Sierra Jones on bail reform in Sedgwick County

I’m a youth advocate for children in the welfare system and a mother of five, and I have also navigated the adult justice system. I know from personal experience how our current bail system in Kansas criminalizes poverty – I was given a one-million dollar bond for six months on a probation violation for misdemeanor theft.

It’s past time for lawmakers to correct our two-tier justice system where the rich can buy their freedom, and the poor have to stay in jail, regardless of guilt or innocence.

Sheriff Easter recently commented on bail reform that, “When we’re talking about reform, we need to be very cognizant about what that reform means. If there’s absolute differences on a misdemeanor bond that someone who had money so their bonds set at this—which they can make—[for] someone else who doesn’t have money, a bond was set they couldn’t make. Maybe we need to take a look at that.” He also repeated the that he is highly against some of the reforms coming from both coasts that allow violent offenders to get out more easily.

Sheriff Easter’s comment also shows he doesn’t realize that when we talk about bail reform, we’re not making broad statements about all offenders. Judges and prosecutors will still have the ability to use their power have concrete options if someone is truly a safety concern or flight risk.

Sheriff Easter and I don’t disagree that we should set higher bonds for more serious crimes, or that we should be considerate of community safety. But I can recall numerous examples of people charged with murder and more severe crimes who had lower bond amounts set than I did.

Most of the crimes we are referring to in this conversation about bail reform hold little jail time as it is—so many of these people will be back into the community at some point anyway. They will likely be far worse off than they were before and more likely to commit more crimes after a lengthy stay in jail that disrupts their lives by interfering with employment, family relationships, housing, and more.

I hope the sheriff will see the reality of how our current bail system has affected people in our community, including me, and how it’s failing to meet the goals for public safety that he has, too. My own experience demonstrates the reality that bonds are not, in fact, affordable for many of us who pose no safety risk or flight risk.

Current laws state that bail should be set at a rate that is affordable to each individual. Currently judges set bonds with no guidelines to go off of besides how they feel that day or how they view the crime committed, and a new bill that recently passed the legislature actually now requires a 10% minimum payment.

I am asking community leaders to take a look at what bonds are being set and compare each individual based off of their crimes and see if they agree with the way it sits currently. All you need do is go to Sedgwick County’s web site, search inmates, and you can see that something needs to be done. I ask that we adopt a policy of mandated pretrial release for less dangerous crimes rather than detention because detaining someone not only is a burden on the community, but many people end up losing homes, jobs, and children while sitting in jail on petty crimes.

Our current bail system fails to rehabilitate, and contradicts our values that a person is innocent until proven guilty.

Our community in Sedgwick County is asking for change because we see a need to stop punishing people simply for being poor – and we hope the Sheriff will meet us at the table.

-Sierra Jones