Proposition102 Profits Bail Industry

Opinion Coloradoan

Out-of-state special interests promoting Proposition 102 want even more money from Coloradoans. Proposition 102 will lead to higher jail populations, which means more tax dollars to house defendants, charged but not yet convicted who would be required to buy their way from jail. Statements by Proposition 102 supporters are untrue — misleading Colorado voters.

They are selling it as “Safe Streets Colorado,” but it’s quite the opposite. Pretrial programs contribute to public safety by supervising and monitoring appropriate defendants in the community. Proposition 102 doesn’t make communities safe; it just requires every defendant supervised by pretrial services to buy their way out of jail by paying the bail bondsman a non-refundable fee. If risk assessment determines a defendant is too great a threat to society, they should be held without bail.
The bail industry only cares that the defendant shows up for court so they don’t have to pony up the promised bail, not what risks may be posed to the community. Proposition 102 actually allows a defendant accused of a violent crime to be released on a non-monetary bond — as long as they don’t have any supervision by a professional pretrial program!