De Blasio administration announces changes to ease process for paying bail
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration announced Friday that it would add ATM machines to criminal courthouses that lack them and take other steps to make it easier for people to pay bail before a defendant is transported to Rikers Island or another jail.
The Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Director Elizabeth Glazer said the city would also publish a comprehensive guide explaining how to pay bail, which will be given to families at court arraignments. She said the city would explore ways to allow bail payments via credit and debit card.
“For an individual who can afford to post bail, there is no reason why he or she should sit in jail for two days simply because of obstacles to paying bail,” Glazer said in a statement. “Access to ATMs and comprehensive information about how to pay bail can mean the difference between posting bail at arraignment and going home, or being sent to Rikers.”
In its announcement, the de Blasio administration said New York City is a “national leader” in the share of defendants – 68 percent – who wait for trial at home, without supervision conditions or money bail. Nonetheless, the administration has taken steps to expand the number of supervised release slots that serve as an alternative to jail and otherwise reduce reliance on bail.
New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and other city lawmakers, including Court and Legal Services Committee Chairman Rory Lancman, successfully pressed the mayor to support the ongoing creation of a charitable fund to bail out those accused of minor, nonviolent offenses, and other, additional actions.
“You gotta crawl before you walk,” Lancman said. “You gotta walk before you jog. You gotta jog before you run, and you gotta run before you sprint. So right now the city has taken those first steps to crawling, and that’s good.”
Lancman said he was confident that bail could be paid using credit cards and by going online and transferring money from bank accounts because the city already accepts some other payments those ways. Additionally, he said the city should expand the bail expediting program, in which defendants can remain in court holding cells for a few hours until a relative or friend can come and post bail at the courthouse. Lancman said increasing the amount of time defendants can be held – and their relatives or friends have to commute to court – would also be helpful.
“With just holding them a little bit longer, everybody wins,” he said. “We’re not feeding or supervising the guy at Rikers Island. We’re getting our bail money.”