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Debt or prison: Jailing the poor

Dayton native DaJuan Hume spent nearly two years in jail awaiting trial for a crime he said he did not commit, only to see the theft charge against him ultimately dropped.

"By the time I got out I lost my vehicle. The storage fees for the vehicle (which had been towed upon his arrest) were too high for me to pay. And I lost my apartment. According to my landlord I just abandoned the place," Hume said.

BY THE NUMBERS: Montgomery County Bail Review Committee report results

The 2004 incident convinced Hume that the US judicial system reliance on money bonds that permit release of some people from jail until their trial is biased against poor people.

"The way it impacts people of poverty especially is just unfair. It is not equitable. You give a man who makes $1 million and a man who makes $100 a $200 bond, it is completely different and impacts them in completely different ways. To one it's nothing. It's pocket change. The guy who makes $100, how is he going to make it? What does he have to sacrifice? What about his family?" Hume said.

Hume joined a Dayton working group pushing for sweeping changes. Organizer Will Smith, Dayton, said step one is to get people out of the shadows and to share their stories.

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"We want to get people out of the mindset that that just happens or that is just the way it is. We want to get people thinking there has to be something really different. We have seen communities around Ohio where things can be changed," Smith said.

People charged with crimes are not the only ones seeking reform. Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, who co-chaired a national task force on fines, fees and bail, is also pushing for reforms across Ohio and the nation. Montgomery County Public Defender Rudy Wehner said the movement within the system is growing to eliminate the inequities faced by people in poverty.

"The reason why they are in jail is because they are poor. They are given a money bond that they cannot possibly make," Wehner said.

The reform movement does face opposition on two fronts. The first comes from law enforcement, including Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer. He believes dramatic change in the system could actually be dangerous for public safety.

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"Law enforcement officers already think there is not enough consequences for repeat offenders. So, we can not lessen that. It could be very dangerous just letting people out because of poverty or whatever excuse they want to use," Plummer said.

The second round of opposition comes from the bail bond industry. Mary Smith, Toledo, Mid-America Director for the Professional Bail Agents of United States, predicts higher costs for court case assessment tools and law enforcement time to round up the accused who do not return to court for trial.

"There is always a cost to it that are never discussed until after they have the mandate put it and then they try to find the funding for it which usually eliminates any commercial or private bail. It ends up costing the taxpayer quite a bit of money," Smith said.

Judges in Dayton have already begun to make changes, being cautious to balance constitutional rights with the rights of victims and the need for justice. Recently the Montgomery County Bail Review Committee, in a 58-page report, called for judges to make sure people are not held in jail on minor crimes just because they cannot afford bail. Dayton Municipal Court Judge Deirdre Logan said they are moving away from a bail schedule that heavily considers only the crime that occurred and moving to a risk assessment that looks at a person's criminal history and potential flight risk.

"It should be individualized and the best practices that we are trying to come up with in Montgomery County is to make it consistent and efficient," Logan said.

State lawmakers are considering a proposal to make sweeping changes in the bail system, but so far have only held a few hearings.

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