Heard Around Town: Gianaris featured in documentary on bail reform

State Senate Deputy Democratic Leader Michael Gianaris discussed the need for bail reform during the premiere episode of a new Vice series called "Justice."

During the episode, Gianaris discussed his legislation that would eliminate bail entirely. In lieu of setting bail, a judge would be able to remand a defendant to jail, release a defendant on their own recognizance or order a supervised release.

“This is not about making money or losing money. This is about people losing their freedom, losing their liberty and spending time in jail when they have not been convicted of a crime,” Gianaris said during the video. “When that’s happening, something is dreadfully wrong and we need to change it no matter the cost.”

The episode also highlighted the suicide of 22-year-old Kalief Browder, who spent three years on Rikers Island once his bail was revoked without being convicted of crime. Browder’s case gained national attention and he became symbol of the country’s broken criminal justice system. 

During the video, the issue of the cost to taxpayers if the state were to reform the bail system was brought up.

“The argument that doing away with bail would be more expensive is completely facetious because, yes, the bail bondsman may not cost the taxpayers any money, but keeping someone in jail costs taxpayers a tremendous amount of money,” Gianaris said. “In New York alone it is over $1 billion a year. Bail bondsmen are not getting paid by the government while they’re out there making sure someone shows up, but that doesn’t account for the thousands and thousands of people in jail every day awaiting trial who shouldn’t be.”

You can watch the full video here.