The Sangamon County Jail’s average daily census has dropped by one-third since cash bail was eliminated in Illinois, crime rates haven’t spiked, and the system providing more information to judges before they make decisions on whether to release defendants before trial is running smoothly.
Ninety days after the Pretrial Fairness Act took effect in Illinois on Sept. 18, initial reactions from officials in the county’s criminal justice system are similar to those being reported around the state.
“It’s a fairly orderly process,” Matthew McLoughlin, campaign coordinator of the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice, told Illinois Times, adding that naysayers so far have been proven wrong. “The courts have slowed the process down.
“The big thing here is the dramatic pronouncements made last year of chaos in our communities have turned out to be patently false. We’re thrilled with the implementation of the law.”
What happens in Springfield and the rest of Illinois is being watched around the country and will be studied for years because the Land of Lincoln is the first to eliminate bail as an option statewide, McLoughlin said. There is no bail in the federal criminal justice system.
The decision to do away with bail came in January 2021 in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly and without a single Republican vote. McLoughlin and other advocates of the Pretrial Fairness Act said the bail system was unfair because it made pretrial freedom dependent on personal and family wealth and not risks to public safety or other relevant factors.
But some opponents of the bail-elimination law, which included most county state’s attorneys, contended the law was unconstitutional. The Illinois Supreme Court sided with Democrats in a July ruling.
Court hearings are now held every weekday in Sangamon County in which judges rule whether newly arrested criminal defendants are detained until trial or released with conditions and mandates that they show up for future court dates. Some charges don’t qualify for detention at all. Other charges justify detention only if judges rule a defendant is a threat to public safety or a flight risk.
Statistics that will be used to assess whether the law is working – meaning public safety is protected and defendants show up for court – are only starting to trickle in as part of an effort that the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts will coordinate. It may take at least a year to draw any long-term conclusions, McLoughlin said.
But he said it’s likely defendants being released who, in the past, might have spent days, weeks or months in jail because of unaffordable bonds, are encountering less job loss and family stress. Studies have shown that time in jail is related to higher reoffending rates, he said.
In Sangamon County, the average daily number of people in custody at the jail was 323 before the Pretrial Fairness Act took effect and has ranged between 220 and 240 since then, according to Sheriff Jack Campbell. It’s obvious the new law is the reason for the drop, he said.
The reduction has meant less crowding in the facility, less stress among inmates and higher morale among the jail staff, Campbell said.
But the results so far haven’t changed Campbell’s longtime opposition to the elimination of bail. Even though bail disproportionately affects low-income people, he said he fears more formerly incarcerated people back on the street, many of them repeat offenders, will lead to an increase in crime.
The sheriff said he has noticed certain crime rates “creeping up” – including the broad category of crimes against persons, as well as crimes against property – but it’s “too early to gauge the various factors that may be in play,” Campbell said.
There haven’t been any serious injuries or deaths in Springfield or the rest of the county connected with someone who was released after prosecutors asked a judge for detention.
“Knock on wood,” State’s Attorney John Milhiser said.
Then again, he said it would be difficult to determine whether such a person would have been able to post bond and reoffend under the old system.
When asked how the new system of hearings and detailed evaluations by court staff and judges is working prior to judicial decisions on detention, Circuit Judge Ryan Cadagin, Sangamon County’s presiding judge, said, “Logistically, it’s going really well.”
Firm numbers aren’t available yet, but Cadagin said it appears the rate of no-shows to hearings by defendants who have been released pretrial hasn’t risen.
Milhiser, who wasn’t in office when the Pretrial Fairness Act was passed and wouldn’t say whether he supported it, said he is working to carry out the law fairly while protecting public safety.
Is it “too early to tell” the long-term impact, Milhiser said, but he collected statistics that show Sangamon County judges are agreeing with prosecutors almost 70% of the time when the State’s Attorney’s Office has requested detention. There have been 99 petitions for detainment so far, and 69 were granted, he told Illinois Times Dec. 13.
The rate is similar to numbers released Dec. 11 by the state administrative court office, which is overseen by the Supreme Court. For 71 of the state’s 102 counties – a number that doesn’t include Sangamon and mostly consists of smaller counties – judges had issued decisions on 1,445 petitions for detention. Of those, 976 (67.55%) petitions were granted, and 469 were denied. Another 51 petitions were waiting to be heard
State appellate courts can consider appeals on detention decisions, and a handful have been filed by Sangamon County defendants, but none has been granted thus far, Milhiser said.
McLoughlin said not enough statistics have been released yet to say whether any of those rates are fair or unfair for people charged with crimes. “We need more robust data,” he said.
More data also may explain why some county jails have seen differing drops in inmate populations, he said.
Milhiser said he has seen about 10% of defendants charged with new offenses after being released, despite requests from his office for detention. Most of the new offenses have been property crimes such as retail theft, he said.
In the case of Terrence Harris Jr., the 52-year-old Springfield man was arrested Nov. 7 inside a construction site at Lanphier High School. Harris was released Nov. 8 after being charged with criminal trespassing and possession of a controlled substance, only to be arrested again Nov. 12 at the same construction site.
He then was charged with criminal trespassing, felony theft and burglary. He has been arrested 12 times since May for alleged offenses that included retail theft, burglary and possession of controlled substances, according to Springfield police.
The State’s Attorney’s Office didn’t ask for detention after the Nov. 7 arrest but after the Nov. 12 arrest asked a judge to sanction Harris with a 30-day jail stay. A 14-day detention was granted instead. Harris served the detention and was released while all the charges against him remain pending.
Sangamon County Public Defender Craig Reiser said he is “pleased that the Pretrial Fairness Act is being carried out as intended” and that his clients’ financial status isn’t a factor in whether they are held in jail.
“The act is working,” he said.
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer at Illinois Times. He can be reached at dolsen@illinoistimes.com, 217-679-7810 or twitter.com/DeanOlsenIT.
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