Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-11-21
YOUR MONEYS WORTH
Boil System
Needs Reform
By SYLVIA PORTER

SYLVIA PORTER
lily and unnecessary burden on
all of US, as taxpayers.
Hundreds of millions Of dol
lars are wasted each year BY
communities across the country
and by the Federal Government
on Imprisonment of individuals
simply because they're too poor
to raise bail. In New York City
alone last year So, 45S persons
spend a breeding, degenerat-
ing, 1,75,7 days in jail whole
awaiting trial." says Judge Ber-
nard Botein, Presiding Justice
of the APPELLATE Division Of
New York's Supreme Court, and
he adds, Most Of those jailed
because Of inability to raise bail
could have been afely re-
leased"
The average cost of each pri-
soner is estimated at S6.25
per day, meaning that the cost
just to this one city runs to tens
of millions a year.
New Jails Needed
More hundreds of millions are
being wasted on the building of
new and bigger jails to lodge
the rapidly increasing numbers
of prisoners detained b efore
trial-up SO per cent Just since
1850. In New York City, reports
Herbert Sturz, director of the
Manhattan Bail Project, IS per
cent Of persons accused Of a
crime can't raise bail when it is
set at $1,000. In Baltimore and
st. Louis rs per cent of accused
persons can't raise bail at any
figure. In Philadelphia 50 per
cent can't.
Countless more millions are
lost in taxes at all levels of gov
eminent because people in pri-
son can't earn money on which
to pay taxes. More millions are
needlessly spent by commmi-
ties for the relief Of prisoners
families. No one can count the
hidden costs to a community
when the children of a prisoner
become delinquents.
Although there has been talk
about reform Of our bail system
for years, it wasn't until 1861
when a chemical Ell gineer
named Louis Schweitzer came
into the picture that the talk
turned into action. Convinced
that inability to post bail was
tantamOunt to making poverty a
CT m e, Mr.. Schweitzer esta-
b lis h ed the Vera Foundation
and launched a thorough expert
ment known as the Manhattan
Bail Peoject.
The project is genius-like in
its simplicity. Each morning,
Vera staff members investigate
aoout 80 persons arrested in the
previous "a hours. They then
econ m en- d to the judges
whether or not the defendants
are good risks for release with
out bond.
Few Jump Bail
Of the more than 1000 &C.
cused persons released without
bail on the basis of Vera recon-
mendatiOns since October, 1861,
only nine have umped parole-a
mo show" record of less than l
per cent and, as Justice Botein
emphasizes, much S m aIler
than the ratio of incompetence
among defendants who furnish
bail"
Of the Vera PAROLES, 90 per
cent have won acquittals or had
their cases dismissed. OF the 40
per cent found guilty, only one
in silk has been sentenced to
prison. Of defendants inter-
viewed 70 per cent are now con-
sidered to be good risks for pre-
trial parole.
So impressive has been the
experiments success that even
before the national conference,
the bail reform movement is
spreading.
Experimental pre-trial parole
programs are being introduced
in st. Louis, Baltimore, Chica-
60, the District of Columbia,
DeS Moines, New York's Mas
Sau Country. New York City's
authorities are now moving to
make pre-trail parole a perma-
nent adjunct of the courts.
Then will come the national
conference under the deter
mined leadership of Attorney
General Kennedy. We are ap-
preaching, forecasts Justice Bo-
TEN, 'the day when fixing of
bail will be the exception for
most m e s"-and that day
will benefit every taxpayer as
well as the arrested person who
also happens to be poor.