Prison overcrowding has become an ever-evolving dilemma for many states, where each new solution creates a new assortment of problems. The end result has been prisons operating grossly over capacity, such as in California, where the state’s 33 prisons were designed to hold 84,000 inmates but are packed with 158,000. States are being forced to release prisoners early and turn away new inmates, which is giving criminals the opportunity to become repeat offenders without much consequence. With current solutions proving largely ineffective, bail agents and others are backing a relatively new answer that uses financial collateral as incentive for convicted criminals to behave: the conditional post-conviction release bond.

Prison overcrowding spreading from coast to coast
California’s struggle with its bloated prison system is representative of the plight of states across the country. In February 2010, a panel of three federal judges issued a tentative ruling that the state must quickly reduce its prison population by more than 57,000 inmates. California is examining measures such as limiting new admissions and giving prisoners shorter sentences for good behavior and rehabilitation efforts. Bartlett said California’s “emergency release” program has created an environment where people no longer fear the consequences of committing crimes.

“People put on emergency release are more likely to commit crimes. They know that if you commit certain crimes in California, they’re just going to process you and walk you out the door two hours later,” Bartlett said.

With so many criminals slipping away from the court system, many are calling for the increased accountability that accompanies post-conviction bonds. Bartlett pointed out that the post-conviction bond could even be used to keep people from entering the prison system at all. The judge would have the discretion to issue a sentence, decide whether the person is eligible for post-conviction bond and then present that option to the convicted person. Bartlett said it’s a win-win situation for the state because the prisons have one less inmate, and the state can collect money from the bail bondsman if the person skips a court hearing or disappears.

The current state of the post-conviction bond
Three years have passed since Mississippi became the first state to adopt the Conditional Post-conviction Release Bond Act in 2007. Since then, Michigan passed a version of the bill in 2009. According to Gene Newman, Secretary of the Professional Bail Agents of the United States, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, California and other states are in various stages of exploring similar initiatives.

Because the post-conviction bond program has only recently been implemented in Mississippi, there isn’t a wealth of data available. But according to Bartlett, preliminary results are very promising. About 1,000 inmates have been released in Mississippi, and the rate of the criminals showing up to court has been about 97 percent. Financially, Bartlett pointed out that the jails are saving around $24,000 to $36,000 per inmate for every year they aren’t in jail, without factoring in medical costs and other expenses.

Bartlett said he doesn’t know what the future holds for post-conviction bonds in the United States, but he thinks with a little more publicity and some positive data collected over the next few years, post-conviction bonds could become the answer to prison overcrowding that America desperately needs.