COLUMBIA, S.C. — Lawmakers passed bond reform in 2023.
It came after pressure from prosecutors and law enforcement officials who argued that a new law was needed to cut down on crimes that were being committed by suspects while out on bond.
Now, the new law is having a far-reaching impact.
Anna White from ABC Bonding described how bonds typically work.
"In the state of South Carolina there are three different types of bonds. There is a PR bond, which is a personal recognizance bond, which means there is no payment up front. There is a cash bond which means you have to pay the full amount of that bond to the court. And then there’s a surety bond where you go through either a surety company that is going through an insurance company, or you go through a professional bonding company, which is what we are here at ABC Bonding,” White explained.
Under new bond rules now taking effect, bail bonds could become nearly impossible to acquire for those who are out on bond and commit another violent crime or a crime with a firearm.
Rhodes Bailey is a defense attorney who has studied the new reforms and educates other attorneys on the changes. He explained how the new law could impact a suspect.
“If he gets rearrested, if he wants to bond out on that second charge, he has got to pay a 100% cash bond to the court. He can’t go through a bonding company,” Bailey said.
Changes to the bond statute include adding an additional felony to the list of a suspect's charges.
“Under the new bond laws, they’ve actually created a brand-new bonus crime, if you’ve committed a crime while on bond for something else,” Bailey explained.
Another new portion of the law says a repeat violent offender cannot get credit for time served pretrial.
Bailey said not everyone will be affected equally under the new bond laws.
"There will be certain groups that feel the impact of these bond changes more. And they will be lower income folks, and in South Carolina it will be predominately non-white citizens. A lot of that goes back to the fact that so much of our economic disparities do fall along racial lines,” Bailey said.
Additionally, the reforms mandate that bond companies collect at least 10% of a bond upfront. White says all the new rules have slowed her business down.
"I would say instead of doing 15 bonds a week, we're doing maybe about 10, or five," White said.
White also said that the mandatory cash bonds also have a negative effect on younger offenders who typically don’t have the resources to afford to pay a bond in full. She worries that this will only serve to exacerbate the already overcrowded conditions at jails like Alvin S. Glenn in Richland County.
The South Carolina Department of Insurance (DOI), who regulates bail bond companies within the state, will be presenting additional information about the changes in bail bond law to owners of bail bond companies, during a mid-September meeting scheduled to take place in Myrtle Beach. The DOI hopes the information will provide additional clarity on the bond law changes.