Far fewer than hundreds of Stanislaus inmates could be freed over coronavirus concerns
A spokesman for the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office said Monday afternoon that so far as he knows, no jail inmates here have yet been released under a statewide emergency bail schedule intended to slow or prevent the spread of COVID-19 among the incarcerated population.
The number released also will be far fewer than the possibly 300-plus reported earlier, Deputy District Attorney John Goold said in a news conference in the lobby of the DA’s Office.
Sunday afternoon, the county Superior Court gave his office a list of all those in custody who from its judicial review are at least subject to consideration for $0 bail, he said. Since then, District Attorney Birgit Fladager and other prosecutors have been reviewing the list.
“In our view, even though bail has been set for zero dollars for a wide variety of cases, judges still retain discretion to set bail in excess of the bail schedule and set it higher than zero dollars,” Goold said. “So as of today, we have been reviewing and filing oppositions to several cases and several defendants, trying to ask the court to not set it as zero dollars and keep those people in custody, or at least subject to when they post bail.”
He said the DA’s Office had a midafternoon deadline to submit its oppositions and serve them to defense counsel. The court will take the objections into account and is expected to send out another list later in the day, Goold said. “The objections we have will either be determined right then” or another court date will be set for bail determination, he said.
On whether any inmates were released Monday, Goold said he believed not but that in one of the day’s court cases, a judge did set zero bail, and in another, a judge denied zero bail on a felony count.
Earlier Monday, Sheriff Jeff Dirkse told The Bee that a figure of 353 inmates looking at a potential no-bail release reflected total cases, not individuals. When a review took into account that some inmates are being held on several cases, the number who might be released drops to between 50 and 100, he said.
In some cases, an inmate might face four charges that could be reduced to no bail, but the fifth might be a lot more serious and prevent his release, Dirkse said.
The Judicial Council of California on April 6 established the temporary bail schedule that reduced to $0 the bail for most misdemeanor and some low-level felony offenses. It applies to accused inmates whose cases have not been adjudicated and anyone arrested on the applicable crimes while the emergency rule is in place.
Crimes that would permit zero bail include elder abuse, brandishing a weapon, auto theft and escape, Fladager said in an email last week. She expressed concern that even “lesser offenses” when committed repeatedly by the same person post a significant threat.
Other crimes with $0 bail include possession of heroin or cocaine for sale and possession of a firearm by a gang member, Dirkse said. He said nearly all misdemeanors qualify, with the exception of driving under the influence and domestic violence.
Bail remains for people held for serious and violent felonies and sex crimes and is determined based on each county’s existing bail schedule.
A report prepared for the council’s decision spelled out the “vital role” courts play in reducing the numbers of inmates in custody while protecting their health and that of the many who work in the jails, transport defendants to court, then return to their communities.
The Judicial Council received about 100 letters of public comment prior to the meeting, that included input from judges, lawmakers, district attorneys, public defenders, probation officers, lawyers in private practice, legal aid groups, unions and more, said Judicial Council spokeswoman Merrill Balassone.
Stanislaus County Public Defender Laura Arnold said last week the council made the right decision.
“I agree with the judicial council’s decision; I think that it is tempered in that it correctly balances the public safety risk of release against the constitutional rights of these confined, preemptively innocent, individuals,” she said. “Incarceration isn’t an answer to everything in society.”
This story was originally published April 13, 2020 at 4:18 PM.
