#Bail Bonds East Baton Rouge Parish

[independentbailbr]

Baton Rouge Bail Bonds

Baton Rouge Bail Bonds was created with a mission to make the Bail Bonds process as simple as possible for those who unfortunately may end up taking part in it. We treat the process like you’re making an everyday purchase. We strongly believe in great customer service and our clients can attest to it.

Our agents are here 24 hours a day and 7 days week to answer any questions you may have regarding the process. Even if you elect to go with another Bail Bonds Office we will still always be here to answer any questions you have.

Bail Bond Help Employment Information Independent Bail Bonds was created with a mission to make the Bail Bonds process as simple as possible for those who unfortunately may end up taking part in it. We treat the process like you’re making an everyday purchase. We strongly believe in great customer service and our clients can attest to it.

Online Bond Process A judge typically sets a bail amount before the bond is posted. If a defendant cannot pay the bail amount on their own, they have the option of contacting a local bail bond agent. Once the defendant has a bail bondsman, they may need to pay 10% of the bail amount to post a bail bond. The bail bondsperson then proceeds to secure the rest of the bail amount in the form of collateral. If the defendant has insufficient collateral, the bail bond agent may might seek out their client’s friends or relatives to assist in covering the bail. Today, U.S. states such as New York and California have made attempts to simplify the process. These locations allow defendants and their loved ones to apply for a bail bond online. The online bond process involves individuals filling out and submitting various forms online, including a payment authorization form. Upon submission, the bail bond agent takes over and ensure that the defendant is released from jail. In most cases, the online bond process can be handled via email and fax. You will need to provide the defendant’s name, bond amount, a valid ID / driver’s license, bank account information, and proof of income.

[nancydhooper]

In Louisiana, a Private Company Is Operating a Court-Approved Shakedown

People awaiting trial have been forced to pay exorbitant fees to a private company under the threat incarceration.

Imagine being arrested. You haven’t been convicted of a crime, but you are told you have to pay bail to be released. If you don’t have enough money to pay the full bail amount, you could pay a bail bondsman, who will keep 10 percent of your bail fee as profit. Either way, if you cannot afford to purchase your freedom, you stay in jail. But in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, it’s worse than that.

Here Judge Trudy White has for years been assigning people to a for-profit company, Rehabilitation Home Incarceration, to supervise the conditions of a person’s release — for a price. RHI then charges people who post bail a $525 fee simply to be released. And it doesn’t stop there. You then have to pay the company a monthly $225 “supervision” fee while awaiting trial. If you don’t, they will threaten to send you back to jail.

In 2015 and 2016, more than 300 people were assigned to Rehabilitation Home Incarceration for pretrial supervision by Judge White. She often made these orders for indefinite periods of time without determining whether people were a flight risk or posed any danger to the public. She also did not assess their ability to pay the company’s signup fee of $525 and its subsequent monthly fees and other charges.

This is extortion, plain and simple. People should not be held for ransom by the justice system, especially for private profit. All arrestees, no matter their income, are presumed innocent. They deserve their freedom and their day in court, two of the most basic rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. But RHI and East Baton Rouge Parish officials have exploited more than three hundred people for thousands of dollars each.

Our justice system is not supposed to work this way. That is why the ACLU, the ACLU of Louisiana, and the Southern Poverty Law Center are suing to put an end to this scam.

One plaintiff in the lawsuit, Kaiasha White — no relation to Judge White — was forced to languish in jail for a month as she and her family struggled to pay both her bond and the RHI signup fee. The jail would not release her without notice from the company that its fee had been paid.

“Some company’s fee on top of bail? It was crazy,” said White. “We were getting more desperate with every day that passed with me still in jail. We ended up using my mother’s social security check to get me out.”

Henry Ayo, another plaintiff, was in jail for two months because he and his wife couldn’t afford to pay his bond and the signup fee. After paying and being released, Ayo was informed by a company representative that he had to pay $225 a month while awaiting trial — or he could be arrested and jailed again. Ayo and his wife paid the company a total of $1,000. As with many of the people RHI extorted, he didn’t receive “supervision services” beyond being required to make phone calls that often went unanswered.

The lawsuit accuses RHI’s executive director, Cleve Dunn Sr., of operating an illegal racket under Louisiana and federal law with Warden Dennis Grimes of the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison and Sheriff Sid Gautreaux III, who oversees the jail. It also accuses RHI and East Baton Rouge Parish of violating the Fourth and 14th Amendment rights of individuals subjected to this scheme and raises additional state law claims challenging RHI’s exploitative practices.

The people of Baton Rouge should not be forced to support private companies in order to secure their release from jail. It is the essence of corruption. And it must end.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247012 https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/louisiana-private-company-operating-court-approved-shakedown via http://www.rssmix.com/