A meeting that started with skepticism about a measure to essentially eliminate bail for nonviolent crimes at New Orleans' Municipal Court boiled over Monday into ill-tempered spats among City Council members and recriminations between advocates seeking to end the practice and judges and bail bondsmen fighting to keep the status quo.
After a Criminal Justice Committee meeting that lasted more than three hours, the measure failed to garner enough support from council members to be formally sent on to the full City Council. However, Councilwoman Susan Guidry, the sponsor of the proposed ordinance, said she planned to bring a revised version back in the future.
The fight represents a relatively rare example of a deep divide in what is normally a mostly harmonious council and a new flare-up in sparring between Guidry and Councilwoman Nadine Ramsey, who have clashed over land-use issues in the past.
Despite the failure to get a recommendation from the committee — Guidry and Councilwoman Stacy Head voted to send the measure to the full council without a recommendation while Ramsey and Jason Williams voted against it — the measure can still be brought up at a later time.
The ordinance aims to address the concern among various legal and civil rights groups that the existing bail system for minor offenses unfairly punishes poor defendants. While wealthier defendants are able to post a bond and walk out to await further action on their case, those who can't afford the amounts set by the Municipal Court judges are stuck in jail, Guidry said.
"We're talking about misdemeanor charges that are nonviolent, and the only people who get stuck in jail before their first appearance are the ones who can't come up with those few hundred dollars," Guidry said. "Are we saying poor people are by their nature more dangerous?"
The ordinance is backed by groups like the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition and the MacArthur Justice Center, which sued to overturn bail requirements in Ascension Parish. Those groups have argued that holding someone in jail for financial reasons violates their constitutional rights and the city might find itself facing a lawsuit of its own.
But the measure is opposed by the Municipal Court judges as well as bail bondsmen and seemed to get little traction with some council members.
Williams said he had concerns the plan would not provide enough scrutiny for those accused of domestic violence, although the ordinance requires they be held until a judge has time to evaluate them, and it could still allow for some kind of bond.
More broadly, he argued that if the city wants to reduce the number of people languishing in jail, it should stop arresting people, rather than changing how bail is treated.
"The real issue here is arresting people who we as a community don't believe should be arrested or detained at all," Williams said, specifically questioning whether the Police Department is abiding by council policies aimed at making sure they are not targeting black residents for arrest.
The basic issue is whether those accused of most municipal offenses should be allowed to leave jail automatically after an arrest or if they should be released only after they post a bond or appear before a judge.
The predetermined bail amounts set by the judges start at about $150 for more minor offenses and go up to $2,500 for more serious ones. However, about 14 of the 35 offenses handled by Municipal Court already result in defendants automatically being released on their own recognizance.
Those who cannot pay the bail can appear before a judge, Municipal Court Judge Paul Sens said, noting that the judges hear cases every weekday. There, a judge can determine whether to reduce the rate.
Guidry's ordinance would expand the automatic release to almost all municipal offenses including theft, assault, disturbing the peace and cruelty to animals. Rather than have to pay a bond to get out of jail, people booked on those offenses would be released immediately after booking and informed when to report back to court for trial.
The only exceptions would be arrests for domestic violence, battery and carrying an illegal weapon. In those cases, a judge would have to evaluate a case within 24 hours and set a bail amount after taking into account the ability of the defendant to pay.
Somewhere between 10 and 40 people are held in the city's jail on municipal charges every day because they cannot afford to make bail, Guidry said. On the low end, the cost of jailing those people is about $471,000 a year, she said.
The financial issue is also a key part of the thrust behind the ordinance, as Guidry and others on the council have sought for years to whittle down the jail population. Sheriff Marlin Gusman has fought against those plans, and a group of pastors who have previously backed him were among those opposing the ordinance Monday.
Others argued the ordinance would reduce the number of criminals who show up for trial.
Head, who usually is an ally of Guidry, seemed skeptical of the proposal, repeatedly suggesting that something is needed to keep people who are "raping and pillaging" the community in jail. But she later said Guidry's plan could work with some changes to narrow its scope.
Councilman Jared Brossett also has introduced an ordinance with a goal similar to Guidry's. His proposal would prohibit judges from setting bail at amounts defendants couldn't pay, but it would require those arrested to go through a hearing first instead of automatically being released.
Brossett did not speak at Monday's meeting and has not said where he stands on Guidry's ordinance.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration has not stated its position.
The debate became emotional as it reached its conclusion Monday, with Williams and Guidry becoming angry as Guidry tried to push for a committee vote that would allow the full council to consider the issue.
Williams ended up leaving the dais as soon as he voted, and, in response to something that couldn't be heard from the audience, Guidry turned to Ramsey and said, "It's really rude."
"I'm not going to take a lesson on rudeness from the dais, especially from you. We voted. Isn't that what you wanted?" Ramsey said, before leaving herself.
