Criminal justice’s COVID-19 response is a collective responsibility

I write in response to the April article, "Zero Cash Bail Order Could Show Whether the Idea is Good or Bad." At this time of global pandemic, everyone involved in the criminal justice system must pull together to reduce the likelihood of a major infection of COVID-19 in our jails and prisons. Some of those quoted in your article do not seem to be aware of this collective responsibility.

Even more than cruise ships or assisted-living facilities, jails are a tinderbox of infection with thousands of people entering and leaving them each day. The chief justice's zero bail order is designed to lessen this constant churn by ensuring only those accused of serious threats to public safety are incarcerated.

Your article relies on counsel for the bail bond industry to foment unnecessary fear by claiming that "the effects of zero bail system will last a long time in the form of increased crime[]..." Similarly, your article quotes the vice president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, who claims that the order will result in those accused of domestic violence getting out. Neither claim is backed by studies, statistics or facts.

The chief justice's order promulgating Emergency Rules contains clear exceptions for enumerated violent crimes. See Emergency Rule 4(c). Prosecutors concerned about the important issue of domestic violence can object to the no bail presumption. As Emergency Rule 4(d) states, "Nothing in the Emergency Bail Schedule restricts the abilities of the court to deny bail..." For other low level offenses, however, even the no-bail order is not enough. The state's Division of Adult Parole Operations recently placed a parole hold on a man accused of shoplifting a bar of Irish Spring soap from a Walgreen's drug store in San Francisco. As a result, that parolee has been in the San Francisco jail for 11 days now. Even under the chief justice's order, he can only be bailed out by coming before a court. With many courts closed or operating at less than capacity, parolees and other detainees will have a hard time even applying for a zero bail release. These individuals will also find it hard to receive notice of their rights or fight their charges under the current court restrictions.

Foolish arrests like the one for theft of a bar of soap during a pandemic are endangering public safety. Outbreaks of COVID-19 in the jails will result in the disease spreading not only to incarcerated people but also to those who work in the jails, including sheriffs' deputies, janitors, lawyers, food workers,\ and their families, and will ultimately overwhelm local hospital systems. This is a particular danger in small rural counties. California needs to act quickly to stop contagion at its 110 jail facilities across the state, many of which already have COVID-19 cases and even some deaths. The chief justice's zero bail order is a step in the right direction. 

-- Gay Crosthwait Grunfeld

Managing Partner

Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP