More than half of Hawai‘i’s jailed population have not been found guilty
And the primary reason is because most jailed people cannot afford to post bail.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Hawai‘i has released a study showing that almost half of the people in Hawai‘i jails are pre-trial detainees who have not been convicted of the crimes for which they’ve been accused. This preliminary report, called “As Much Justice As You Can Afford: Hawaiiʻs Accused Face an Unequal Bail System,” also reveals that the average bail amount in Honolulu for the lowest level felony is over $20,000. The report is part of an ongoing, statewide investigation and analysis of how bail practices affect our local families and communities.
This means the primary reason that so many people wait in jail for months with their rights infringed upon is because they cannot afford to get out while waiting for trial. We are actively taking away people’s Constitutional rights for months at a time simply because they are poor.
ACLU Legal Director Mateo Caballero said, “Bail is not supposed to be punishment. Bail is supposed to minimize the risk of flight and danger to society while preserving the constitutional rights of the accused. Instead, our early findings show that the way bail is used in Hawai‘i does not serve any of these purposes. Instead, bail practices regularly cause people to waive their rights just to get out of jail. That is unjust and violates the constitution.”
The preliminary report is based on an analysis of six months of public data and interviews with court officials. It captures a snapshot of how bail is used in Hawai‘iʻs criminal justice system, typical outcomes for the accused, and how current practices affect overcrowding of local jails like the O‘ahu Community Corrections Center (OCCC). An update with a full year of data is planned for late 2018.
ACLU Executive Director Joshua Wisch added, “In practice, the way bail works in Hawai‘i means that if you’re wealthy you get out of jail while you wait for trial, and if you aren’t–you don’t. Almost half of the people in Hawai‘i jails have not been convicted of the crime for which they’ve been accused. They’re only in jail because they can’t afford bail. We hope this report will start a discussion about how we can improve this system.”
The report follows ACLU community events in Hilo and Honolulu to discuss criminal justice reform concerns. Among the report’s findings, which have been provided to legislators, the judiciary and the administration: Money is required for bail in about 93 percent of the cases on O‘ahu, 88 percent statewide; over 50 percent of those accused do not post bail, likely because they cannot afford it; of the almost 2,200 people held in Hawai‘i’s jails on any given day, about half are pre-trial detainees and they are held at a cost of $146/day per person (more than $53,000 per year, per person, though pretrial detainees are not usually in jail for an entire year); even if eventually allowed to go free without money bail while awaiting trial, the accused in Hawai‘i wait in jail an average of over 90 days before that hearing even happens, when most large counties in the country are able to release arrestees in 15 days or less; and almost 70 percent of accused who changed their “not guilty” plea to a “guilty” plea did so while in pretrial custody, raising serious concerns for due process, bias and fairness.
“As Much Justice As You Can Afford: Hawaiiʻs Accused Face and Unequal Bail System.” The report can be found at: www.acluhi.org/bailstudy