California sheriff says $0 bail policy flies in the face of her four decade career in law enforcement, ignores victims
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Fresno County sheriff refuses to enforce COVID-19 lockdown orders as she struggles to re-arrest freed inmates
Sheriff Margaret Mims says she's so busy dealing with the 'no bail' crime wave that she's not going to enforce coronavirus lockdown mandates.
The zero-cash bail emergency mandate in California, which has led to reduced prison populations to reduce the spread of COVID-19, ignores victims and favors criminals, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims asserted Friday night
Appearing on "The Ingraham Angle", Mims told host Laura Ingraham that the mandate was a de facto get-out-of-jail-free card.
As of Thursday, there were 711 suspected criminals released in the Golden State on $0 bail and 87 inmates had ended up back in police custody.
Mims explained that there are two reasons California would set bail at $0.
"First of all, it was to reduce the population in jails and to reduce the incidence of COVID infecting inmates without taking into consideration what counties had already done to fix that problem. And, the second reason was to put out arraignment dates. When someone is in custody, they must be arraigned within a few hours. When they're not in custody, they can set that date out. Now that courts are pretty much closed...they need that extra time for arraignments for people who are arrested," she stated.
The Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution has 443 inmates infected with the coronavirus, the most of any federal lockup and more than all the California state prisons combined, in San Pedro on Wednesday, April 29, 2020. (Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images)
As the pandemic quickly spread throughout the country, state and local officials' concern shifted to crowded prisons, where inmates not only live in close proximity to one another, but share laundries, baths, and communal eating areas.
The United States has 2.3 million inmates in about 5,000 jails and prisons across the country. According to the Bureau of Justice, nearly 200,000 people 55 and older are behind bars.
As of mid-April, over 16,000 inmates had been released nationwide, due to the virus.
But, Mims argues that this policy does more harm to the justice system than it does good.
"This is $0 bail which means many people who are arrested for auto theft, assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to commit great bodily injury, elder abuse, child abuse: they automatically get released from California jails with a citation to appear," she noted.
It's an oversight Mims believes "flies in the face of anything in [her] 41 years of law enforcement."
"It has nothing to do with public safety," she concluded. "It has everything to do with ignoring victims and giving inmates and people [who] commit [a] crime a free pass."
Fox News' Travis Fedschun contributed to this report.
Julia Musto is a reporter for Fox News Digital. You can find her on Twitter at @JuliaElenaMusto.
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Nice way to treat upstanding citizens--putting their lives and property at risk.
Do folks in Cali realize that its lawmakers who they elected care so little about them and far more about criminals and illegal aliens?
She is absolutely right about all that she said. Our California county sheriff where I live would agree with her.
Yous skeptics are wild. I'm sure California is capable of the cutting-edge bail reform success of New York.
I am sure all of those 711 will report for their trial dates once they are established./S
Those were very stupid ones. I am sure some of the smarter ones have committed more crimes, just haven't been caught.
Wonder how long before one of these fine upstanding citizens will commit an act that will get the state of CA sued, along with governor, but the victim(s)?
"It has nothing to do with public safety," she concluded. "It has everything to do with ignoring victims and giving inmates and people [who] commit [a] crime a free pass."
Two Words to 'splain "Californications" usual STUPID thought processes on "Criminals in Jail" must be free thing ......…. "Sanctuary Cities" !
No cash bail may not be the perfect solution, but the previous system was inherently unfair. Bail amounts were based on the crime committed, and not generally on what a person could pay. Therefore, poorer people charged with a crime were stuck in jail, while the more well off went free. That means the latter got to return to work, keep their jobs, be with their families, help their lawyers work on their case, attend to any medical needs they had, and so on.
Maybe the poorer people should try harder to stay out of jail....like not committing crimes.