Here’s a look at what to expect in Winnebago County when cash bond ends Monday

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The Pretrial Fairness Act goes into effect on Monday, ending cash bail across the state and ushering in comprehensive changes to how the courts decide when to hold people in jail before trial.

Defendants being held on money bond can begin to petition the court Monday for a hearing that would allow for their pretrial release. Conversely, prosecutors can request a hearing to detain a defendant who previously bonded out of jail who they believe is a danger to the public and able to be held in jail before trial under the new law.

“There are persons out there who their bond might have been $300,000-$500,000, and they came in with $30,000 cash and they got out,” Winnebago County State’s Attorney J. Hanley said. “We are likely, on some of those individuals, going to be filing petitions to detain because we believe we can meet that dangerousness standard.”

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Prosecutors have 21 days after Monday to seek detention on such defendants.

Hanley took questions from reporters on Wednesday about how his office will handle the change when it goes into effect.

Here’s a look at some of the key questions surrounding the early days of the new law.

What happens to people held in jail on what is now a non-detainable offense?

The Pretrial Fairness Act sets out offenses for which a citation should be issued instead of an arrest, with certain exceptions such as if the accused poses a threat to the community or if the criminal activity persists after a citation.

Those offenses are traffic violations, Class B and C misdemeanors and petty offenses.

Those defendants won’t be automatically let out come Monday, but they can file a motion for their release, which would happen after a hearing is held to set conditions for release. Those hearings must happen within seven days of the petition for release being filed.

Hanley suspects that applies to just a fraction of the 764 people who were held in the jail as of Wednesday.

“I think that’s 50 to 75 people who are currently in jail right now,” Hanley said.

Officials with the jail said the number fluctuates, but Hanley’s estimates are in line with what they expect.

A judge would review their petition for release and set appropriate conditions for them to be let out.

What happens to other people held in jail on bond?

Defendants being held on bond on charges where pretrial detainment is possible can petition the court opt-in to the new system.

Defense attorneys can file a motion at any time to seek a hearing for their client’s release. Once that happens, the court has 60 to 90 days to hold a hearing. It is 60 days for those being held on the willful flight standard and 90 days for dangerousness standard.

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Defendants will be meeting with their defense attorneys in the coming days to determine if they’ll seek release.

“There won’t be this kind of rush out of the jail because, No. 1, those meetings have to happen,” Hanley said. “Those meetings have to happen, and then the defense attorney have to file those motions and then the hearings have to be set.”

People currently held on bond can choose to post bail and be released until or unless they choose to opt in to the new system.

When will the first hearings be held?

The first hearings for what was bond court, and is now called initial appearance court, will happen at 1:30 p.m. on Monday in courtroom B of the Winnebago County Criminal Justice Center, 650 W. State St.

At those hearings, prosecutors can file a petition to detain a defendant when they believe they have clear and convincing evidence the person is a flight risk or a potential danger to the public.

Those courtrooms should be more filled than usual, as advocates for the Pretrial Fairness Act plan to sit in as court watchers in Winnebago County and at least seven other jurisdictions in Illinois.

“Observing court sends the message to all of the court actors that we take this very seriously,” said the Rev. Violet Johnicker, pastor of Brooke Road United Methodist Church and a part of the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice.  “We, across the state, want to hold our courts accountable and our leaders accountable to full implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act as intended.”

Johnicker and other clergy members have been advocating for the end of cash bail for more than a year. They say the law restores the presumption of innocence and ends the practice of jailing people only because they can’t afford to pay for their release. In the current system, they argue that people accused of violent and serious crimes can be released so long as they can afford it, while poor defendants could be held on petty offenses.

“This is not only going to make our community safer by having more robust hearing processes, while judges still have the discretion to detain folks if they deem that necessary,” Johnicker said. “We know that more money is going to stay in communities that it has been extracted from. It’s been millions of dollars that have come out of communities like Rockford, especially Black and brown communities that have been hit hardest by this, and we know that communities with the most resources are the safest.”

What will happen to the jail population?

There were 764 people in the Winnebago County Jail on Wednesday, according to Jail Superintendent Bob Redmond.

That number has hovered around 800 for much of the year.

Predictions on how the jail’s population will change with the end of cash bail vary, but for the closest example of what may happen we can look to New Jersey.

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The Garden State essentially replaced money bond with a risk assessment process in 2017, although cash bail is still allowed in some instances.

The result was a drop in pretrial jail detainees from more than 15,000 in 2012 to fewer than 8,000 in 2019, according to the state’s Criminal Justice Reform report.

Hanley suspects the population here will dip in the first three to six months, but it will gradually go back up as people violate conditions of release and again are held in the jail.

“I don’t think it will get back up to 800, but i don’t think it will be at 400 either,” Hanley said. “One of the reasons it will go back up is because of the number of people who, for lack of a better word, screw up on pretrial release.”

Panel discussion | Pretrial fairness act

About: Criminal justice leaders in Winnebago County will discuss the Pretrial Fairness Act, including detainable and non-detainable offenses, arrest, department operations and the cost to taxpayers.

The event will include remarks from Winnebago County Board Chairman Joe Chiarelli and Public Safety and Judiciary Committee Chairman Brad Lindmark, as well as an overview by Chief Judge John Lowry.

Panelists are State’s Attorney J. Hanley, Sheriff Gary Caruana, Public Defender Nick Zimmerman and Chief Deputy Circuit Clerk Tom Lawson.

When: 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27

Where: Veterans Memorial Hall, 211 N. Main St., Rockford

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas