COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

HOUSE OF DELEGATES
RICHMOND

TIM HUGO
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS:
JENNIFER D. CARROLL FOY COURTS OF JUSTICE
MILITIA, POLICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY
POST OFFICE BOX 5113
WOODBRIDGE, VIRGINIA 22194
SECOND DISTRICT

May 3, 2018

The Honorable Paul Ebert

Commonwealth’s Attorney, Prince William County
Judicial Center
9311 Lee Avenue, Suite 200J
Manassas, VA 22110

Dear Mr. Paul Ebert:

We are writing to urge you to follow the lead of the Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney and
take steps in Prince William County to end cash bail bonds. We also ask you to create a pretrial release
system that is based on the defendant's perceived public safety and flight risk rather than the defendant's
ability to pay.

On any given day in the United States, 70 percent of individuals detained in jail are being held
1
pretrial. While statistics differ across the nation, some states and localities report average pretrial
detention times as high as 55 days.2 Here in the Commonwealth, 92 percent of defendants in 2012 who
were detained for failure to post bail had been unable to pay a bail bond of $5,000 or less.3

The current system of cash bail denies many Americans the presumption of innocence, a bedrock
of our criminal justice system. Not only does cash bail have a disproportionately negative impact on low-
income individuals and people of color, the current system does little to improve public safety and
straddles localities with a significant financial burden. Even a single day of pretrial incarceration can
impose high costs on an accused person, including family strain, and loss in income, employment, and
education. Below we document a few notable statistics:
● The Justice Policy Institute estimates that poor defendants and their families pay the
commercial bail bond industry about $1.4 billion in a year.4
● According to the Pretrial Justice Institute, it costs taxpayers about $75 a day to hold a
person in jail pretrial, compared to just $7 a day to supervise someone in their
community.5
● In two large jurisdictions studied by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, about half of
individuals identified as “high risk” were able to buy their way out of jail due to the
money bail system.6

1
“Bail Reform: Improving Pretrial Detention and Release,” Six Action, October 2017.
2
“Bail Reform: Improving Pretrial Detention and Release,” Six Action, October 2017.
3
Peter Wagner and Bernadette Rabuy, “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017,” Prison Policy Initiative, March 14, 2017,
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2017.html.
4
“The High Price of Bail,” Justice Policy Insitute,
http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/high_price_of_bail_-_final.pdf.
5
“Bail in America: Unsafe, Unfair, Ineffective,” Pretrial Justice Institute, http://www.pretrial.org/the-problem/.
6
“Developoing a National Model for Pretrial Risk Assessment,” Laura and John Arnold Foundation, November 2013,
http://www.arnoldfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/LJAF-research-summary_PSA-Court_4_1.pdf

DISTRICT: (571) 989-1713 • RICHMOND: (804) 698-1002 EMAIL: DELJCARROLLFOY@HOUSE.VIRGINIA.GOV

 COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
HOUSE OF DELEGATES
RICHMOND

TIM HUGO
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS:
JENNIFER D. CARROLL FOY COURTS OF JUSTICE
MILITIA, POLICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY
POST OFFICE BOX 5113
WOODBRIDGE, VIRGINIA 22194
SECOND DISTRICT

● Numerous studies have shown that cash bail coerces plea deals.7

We are encouraged by the steps that District Attorneys across the country are taking to reform
this system. In Philadelphia, District Attorney Larry Krasner recently announced that city prosecutors
would not seek cash bail for 25 types of misdemeanors and for some non-violent felonies. Moreover, as
we are sure you aware, last week, Richmond Commonwealth Attorney Michael Herring instructed
prosecutors to make an assessment of a defendant’s risk to the community and recommend to a judge his
or her release without bond with pretrial conditions if the defendant does not pose an unacceptable risk.

We believe that Prince William County residents would benefit by changing the cash bail policy
in a similar way to these prosecutors across the country. Not only would this change help our most
vulnerable population, it would make our streets safer. Please contact us directly if you have any
questions or would like to discuss this issue further.

Sincerely,

Jennifer D. Carroll Foy Danica Roem

Member, Virginia House of Delegates Member, Virginia House of Delegates
2nd District 13th District

Elizabeth Guzman Lee J. Carter

Member, Virginia House of Delegates Member, Virginia House of Delegates
31st District 50th District

7
“Bail Fail:Why the U.S. should end the practice of using money for bail,” Justice Policy Insistute, September 2012,
http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/bailfail_executive_summary.pdf.

DISTRICT: (571) 989-1713 • RICHMOND: (804) 698-1002 EMAIL: DELJCARROLLFOY@HOUSE.VIRGINIA.GOV