CLOSE Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor supports reforming cash bail. Two new bipartisan bills aim to limit the amount people are charged for bail to a percentage of their income minus expenses. (Photo: Joshua A. Bickel/Columbus Dispatch) Sixty percent of people sitting in Ohio jails have never been convicted of a crime. They’re there because they can’t afford to make bail, Rep. David Leland, D-Columbus, said. “What happens to those people?” A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers says those folks can sit in jail for days, weeks or even months while they wait on a trial. They lose jobs. They lose homes. They lose custody of their children. Sometimes they plead guilty to a lesser crime – even if they believe themselves to be innocent – just to get out, Sen. Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, said. That’s why McColley, Leland and 48 other state lawmakers have signed onto two companion bills in the…
Continue Reading: Republicans, Democrats say Ohio's current cash bail system traps people behind bars
