MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shelby County is instituting a new bail process for those facing charges, which its creators said will make it “one of the fairest in the nation.”
The Shelby County Commission approved the resolution for the new bail hearing courtroom earlier this month. Read the resolution HERE.
There’s a new courtroom for bail hearings, and individual bail hearings with counsel will be held no later than three day’s after a person’s arrest. The court will take a look at the person’s financial circumstances before making a decision, and secured money bail is to be used only as a last resort.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said Tennessee law requires that money bail be a last resort, only used if less restrictive means of ensuring someone appears for trial are not enough. It said the U.S. Constitution requires timely bail hearings with an attorney, and individual circumstances be considered so someone is not solely incarcerated because they are too poor to pay bail.
Advocates for the new system said under the old pretrial system in Shelby County, someone could be held for weeks without a bail hearing with counsel, and many never had a bail hearing. They said ability to pay was not considered when bail was set, leaving some to be detained indefinitely even if they were not a flight or safety risk, while others facing the same charges could afford to pay and be free until trial.
Read the General Session Court's new standing bail order HERE.
The new bail system is expected to go into full effect by February 2023.
Reaction to new bail hearing process
The ACLU, Just City, and The Wharton Law Firm partnered with Stand for Children Tennessee and the Official Black Lives Matter Memphis Chapter to push for the bail reforms. They issued a letter and negotiated with Shelby County leaders to work on the reform measures.
“With these changes, Shelby County has the opportunity to be a national leader for pretrial justice. These much-needed improvements are a testament to the power of local officials, advocates and community members working together to solve a problem,” said Andrea Woods, staff attorney with the ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project, in a news release.
“Bail reform advocates from around the country are looking to Shelby County as an example of how a community can realize meaningful reform when forward-thinking leaders decide to collaborate instead of litigate,” said Josh Spickler, executive director of Just City. “We will soon have a smaller jail population, safer streets, and significant cost savings as a result.”
“The Shelby County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved changes to the bail system in order to promote equality, public safety, and to reduce the high costs of unnecessary pretrial incarceration. These forward-looking solutions reflect growing evidence that supportive interventions, rather than incarceration, promote positive outcomes in most cases,” said Willie F. Brooks Jr., chairman of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners.
“I look forward to working in support of these groundbreaking reforms and ensuring that my office only seeks money bail where needed for public safety. Pretrial detention should be the exception, not the rule,” said District Attorney General-elect Steve Mulroy.
“Reform was necessary to stop bail practices that violate the constitutional and statutory rights of people arrested in Shelby County. These reforms are a great place to start, as this process institutes counsel for the individual and also speeds up the process by providing a bond hearing within 72 hours. The assistance of the bail calculator to determine what an individual can afford is also very important because all of the people we bail out cannot afford the full bail or the 10% that most bond companies require,” said Marquita Brown, LMSW, representative of the Official Black Lives Matter Memphis chapter.