The resurgence of bail will be fatal

Trump is pushing to keep more nonviolent suspects jailed, and jails are dangerous

- TERENCE KEEL

JAILS IN AMERICA are dangerous. So far this year, 38 people have died inside Los Angeles County jails in as many weeks. This is more than five times the number of executions in the entire state of California since 2000. Many carceral facilities across the nation are incapable of keeping people safe while in state custody.

The Trump administration recently signed an executive order to punish jurisdictions that do not incarcerate people accused of misdemeanors and lower-level crimes while they await trial. In this most recent draconian attempt to "make our cities safe again," Trump plans to withhold federal funding from local and state governments that allow nonviolent offenders to go home and to work while they await trial.

This order does not improve public safety; it endangers more people. Public safety includes more than the free. It includes those of us who are incarcerated. Our government has a responsibility to ensure the safety, rights and dignity of people detained, whether awaiting trial or after a conviction. We abandon this obligation by holding people captive in facilities plagued by what the ACLU has called "medieval" living conditions, with incompetent medical care, illness, violence, a predatory commercial bail industry and far too many early deaths.

Denying local and state governments the freedom to decide who is and who is not a threat to public safety also undermines democratic self-governance and further erodes public trust at a moment when faith in state institutions is at its lowest in decades.