Prison for Profit: Commercial Bail

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]"Have you grown tired of doing the same boring job  day in and day out? Have you longed for adventure, money, and a more flexible work schedule?" In  America, an estimated 4,000 corporations profit from mass incarceration. At every level  of the system, private companies exist to extract money for owners and shareholders,  in part comprising what is often called the prison industrial complex. Health care,  food, telecoms, probation, drug testing, forced labor: all for profit. A river of money  from inmates, their families, and the public are dumped in and siphoned away little by little  by profit-seeking industries, to the detriment of the public at large. Today, I'm talking about  commercial for-profit bail. Because if you can't shake down a literal captive, you're in the wrong  racket. Sonny Jim. Yeah. "If you hold out too long, you're going to jeopardize your credit... Now  offering affordable home training classes......bondsman, that you will never get back. Even if you  are not guilty, even if the charges are dropped..." In many ways, prisoners are a dream come true  for certain corporate interests. As employees at companies like McDonald's, they're very  reliable. They show up on time. They can't complain about wages. And they can't quit  for a better job without facing punishments like solitary confinement. As customers of  goods and services within prisons, they're a captive market. You don't like the phone rates?  What you going to do? From the moment a person enters the system, when they're still illegally  considered innocent, until even after they've left, there's profit to be extracted. How much profit?  It's difficult to say. There are many different industries and thousands of companies with their  hands in the pie, and the majority of them are privately held, which makes finding accurate data  nearly impossible. Maybe even internally. You know how it goes. According to a 2026 report from  Prison Policy Institute, the total cost of mass incarceration in the US is nearly half a trillion  dollars per year. But one of the first steps in the system is local and county jails, and the  opportunity to pay bail in exchange for freedom pending trial. The beneficiaries? Big financial  firms. In 2021, the most recent data I can find, 76% of all bail bonds were underwritten by only  six insurance corporations, bringing in about $15 billion in revenue per year with estimated profits  of about $2.4 billion. Who pays? underprivileged people under arrest who find themselves facing a  decision: sit in jail for months to await trial, or pay a bail bondsman to get them out. The  US is one of only two countries in the world, alongside the Philippines, that allows for-profit  commercial bail bonds. In the rest of the world, someone accused of a crime is generally not  held in jail until the conclusion of their case unless they pose a danger to the public  or are at risk of flight. They may still have to meet certain conditions like checking in  with police, wearing an electronic monitoring device, and avoiding certain places or  people. Here's how it works in the US.

[00:03:44]A person is arrested and charged with a crime, but  it could be months or even years until their case is resolved. Within a few days or sometimes weeks,  they'll have a hearing with a judge to determine whether they should be released pending trial.  The court considers various factors like the type of alleged crime, the likelihood of fleeing,  and whether they're a danger to the community.

[00:04:08]Then the court imposes conditions to ensure the  defendant is present for future court dates. For very minor offenses with no criminal background,  they might be released on their own recognizance: a promise to return for their court dates and  not skedaddle for yonder hills. If it's a serious crime or there's a flight risk, the judge may deny  pretrial release altogether. Or, the defendant can be released by paying bail. The idea is is that if  people pay a bunch of money that they risk losing, they're more likely to appear for future court  dates instead of fleeing and leaving their out of jail deposit behind. The median bail amount for  a felony is $10,000. Using that as an example, if the defendant has $10,000 in cash, they can pay their  bail outright, and at the conclusion of their case, the money is typically refunded regardless  of the outcome. If they don't have 10 Gs, they can get a bail bond from a private company,  which pays the bail on their behalf in exchange for a non-refundable fee of 10 to 15%. If the  defendant can't afford that, the company may offer a payment plan with interest rates of  up to 30%. And they may also want collateral, like a house or a car. If the defendant doesn't  show up for court, the bail bond company is supposed to be on the hook for the full bail  amount. "Hold your dog! Hold your dog! He's going to get shot in the fucking head!" About 7 million  Americans go to jail each year. And around 70% of jail inmates are in pretrial detention. They've  been accused of a crime, but not convicted, and are behind bars awaiting trial. One out of five  of all incarcerated people in the United States are in pretrial detention. Of those, over  60% are held because they can't afford bail.

[00:06:13]The average income for a man who can't afford bail  is $16,000 per year. And for women, it's $11,000.

[00:06:22]These are people who are legally innocent, but  may be in jail for months or even years before their trial begins. And the number of people held  in pretrial detention has skyrocketed in recent decades. From 1970 to 2021, the number of people  held pretrial has increased by a factor of seven.

[00:06:44]In 1990, 40% of people in jails were released on  their own recognizance, and 23% used a commercial bail bond. By 2009, commercial bail bonds more  than doubled to 49% of pretrial releases, while OR releases dropped to 23%. Over the last 30 years,  the number of people held in US jails has tripled, and one of the primary drivers is increased  use of pretrial detention and money bail.

[00:07:18]86% of US jail population growth since 1983 can  be attributed to increased pretrial detention.

[00:07:27]So how did we get the cash bail system, which only  two countries in the world use? Very briefly, the US system of paying money as part of bail has  its roots in medieval England, where and when I am from mi'lord, when most crimes were resolved  between private parties and all but the worst crimes were punishable with a fine paid directly  to the victim. According to Colombia Law Review, "to ensure that the accused party would appear  in court, a surety, that is another individual, would agree to provide the court with bail  exactly equal to the criminal penalty. Thus, if the accused fled, the accuser was guaranteed  exactly what would be owed had the court ultimately found in their favor. Professor June  Carbone has argued that the Anglo-Saxon system represented the 'last entirely rational application  of bail.' " "If the taxpayers in New York City could possibly have their choice, I guarantee you they  would choose parks and streets and helping the homeless rather than funding pretrial release  services." "Yes, the bail bondsman may not cost the taxpayers any money, but keeping someone in  jail cost the taxpayers a tremendous amount of money. In New York alone it's over a billion dollars  a year. But that doesn't account for the thousands and thousands of people that are in jail every day  awaiting trial who shouldn't be." While England and the rest of the world reformed their systems  over time, the US took a different path after gaining independence. Bail was seen as a right  that protects people from pretrial detention.

[00:09:08]The 8th amendment to the constitution in 1791  forbade, in part, excessive bail and excessive fines. The Judiciary Act of 1789 mandated  that bail be granted in all cases except those punishable by death. The founders of the  US were quite wary of unnecessary incarceration of whites who hadn't been convicted of a crime.  But in the 19th century, with the expanding US frontier and a more transient population  and weaker community ties, it was thought that defendants generally were a greater flight  risk. So judges started intentionally setting bail amounts so high that people couldn't  afford them. And this led to the birth of the commercial bail bond industry, with the first  known company founded in 1898 in San Francisco.

[00:10:03]This began the shift from bail serving as a  safeguard on public rights, to a transactional, for-profit enterprise and a brand new market to  exploit. In the 1960s, with more people noticing that the system disproportionately punishes the  poor, the bail reform movement began. In 1966, the Bail Reform Act was signed by President  Johnson, which was meant to ensure that everyone, regardless of financial status, would be  protected from needless pretrial detention.

[00:10:36]There were more reforms in the 1980s, including  preventative detention, meant to keep the most dangerous individuals from bailing out. Then  things took a turn in the 1990s, when increased scrutiny of for-profit bail led to the industry  forming the American Bail Coalition, or ABC, a trade association for bail bond companies and the  insurance corporations that underwrite the bonds.

[00:11:04]Partnering with a conservative lobbying  organization called American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, the bail bonds industry  suddenly had much more power to influence public policy for their financial benefit. From the mid-1990s to 2021, the ABC and ALEC spent millions on lobbying, and wrote and helped pass 12 different  bills in multiple states. Their only goal? Killing bail reform. "What if we could suddenly flip a  switch so to speak and they would know that if they violated, somebody was coming after them, and  what if they knew that that somebody knew how to find them, and that that somebody would indeed  retrieve them and surrender them back into the penitentiary. How could we affect this good  change? How could we go about it? Here's how.

[00:12:08]When the official who releases this inmate early  on his sentence releases him, he tells him, 'Before you leave, you've got to get somebody  to get an insurance company to come and put up a financially secured bond, say $25,000, $50,000,  guaranteeing our state that if when you violate one of your conditions, if that insurance company  does not retrieve you and bring you back to us to be surrendered into custody, they pay the $50,000  to the state." As one example from Colombia Law Review, "In Louisiana, ABC successfully lobbied for  a law that (when posting bail) requires arrestees to pay a 2% fee, in addition to the standard  non-refundable premium, that is divided up among local sheriff's departments, district attorneys  offices and public defenders offices so that every criminal justice player has a financial  interest in commercial surety." Let that sink in for a moment. A bill which incentivizes law  enforcement, at multiple levels, to support more and higher bail amounts because they're going to  get a cut of it. And their aggressive lobbying has only increased over time. "CNN talked to more  than a dozen officials in the Iowa justice system, corrections officials, judges, public defenders  who supported the program. But here is where Iowa's story takes a dark twist. Because in  the middle of last year's state budget process, and out of the blue, this line was inserted into  an appropriations bill, which stopped Iowa's bail reform in its tracks. 'The public safety assessment  pilot program shall be terminated.' It turns out behind the scenes there was an explanation. You  just had to follow the money." From 2010 to 2012, industry campaign contributions increased by a  factor of 10 amid renewed calls for bail reform.

[00:14:21]At the same time, American bail coalition spent  millions on advertisements trying to convince the public that bail reform would increase crime,  even though research shows that isn't the case.

[00:14:34]This 2024 study published on JAMA looked at  gun violence in New Jersey before and after the state's 2017 bail reforms, and found no difference  after the reforms. So that's how we ended up with for-profit, commercial bail. What may have started  with good intentions some years ago, protecting people from being imprisoned before they're  convicted, has now become a commercial machine with a powerful lobbying arm. One that ensures  and has resulted in more people being imprisoned without being convicted of a crime. But the  desecration of the presumption of innocence isn't the only problem. Critics of cash bail say the  practice has the effect of criminalizing poverty, creating a two-tier justice system that allows the  wealthy to buy their way out. Proponents say cash bail creates an incentive for defendants to return  to court, but research shows that isn't true.

[00:15:32]The nonprofit Bail Project operates a fund that  pays bail on behalf of people who can't afford it, removing the financial element, and says that over  90% of the people they help return for their court dates, the same proportion as those who pay their  own bail. Another issue is that bail agents are largely unregulated. As of 2022, 10 states had no  licensing for bail agents. 28 had no licensing for bounty hunters, and most states do not require any  kind of training for either. Pretty much anyone can become a bail agent or bounty hunter in a  short period of time. Commercial bail companies also have no incentive to make sure their clients  don't commit more crimes during their release.

[00:16:22]In fact, it's better for them if the client is  rearrested, because they may get a new, higher bail amount, and there's the opportunity for even more  profit. The system disproportionately impacts not just the poor, but non-whites. Studies show that  judges are more likely to give black defendants bail amounts that are unaffordable, and the odds  of a black defendant being held pretrial are 87% higher than those for white defendants. Defendants  who can't afford bail are four times more likely to go to prison. Bail companies also have total  discretion in who they want to contract with, meaning bail out. And they often make their  decisions based on which cases will be the most profitable. They regularly won't take  on clients they believe are too poor to cover potential losses. The most profitable bonds tend  to be the biggest ones; as in, defendants where the court has set their bail very high because  they're accused of serious crimes. Meanwhile, lower level offenders who are safe to be in  the community end up staying in jail because bail bond companies won't take them on. If  the bail amount is too low, it's often not worth it to them without collateral. When these  companies have a defendant who flees before trial, they're supposed to cover the full cost of the  bond, in what's called forfeiture. But with powerful financial firms backing them, they frequently  fight these forfeitures in court and win. Meaning they don't even do the one thing they're supposed  to. So, who's making money out of this? Well, there are thousands of bail bond agents nationwide. I've  seen estimates ranging from 15,000 to 25,000. It's a highly fragmented, broad industry with the vast  majority of agents working for small companies.

[00:18:15]How much do they earn? Well, the Bureau of Labor  Statistics apparently doesn't track earnings for bail bond agents. Oh dear. According to ZipRecruiter, it ranges from $22,000 to $40,000 per year nationwide, with a median of $32,000. But then  lower on the page, it says this is the average, not the median. And it also says the state  of Kentucky ranks 55th out of 50 states. So I guess we should take these figures with a grain  of salt. Palmetto Surety Corporation, a company which provides lines of credit for bail bonds, says  it ranges from $40,000 to $80,000 per year. So again, grain of salt. "Thanks, Mr..." "Bond. Bail Bond."  "Right." "I was chilling in my house just watching my TV when I heard a knock on the door, who could that be. Surprised I found the police with a warrant for my arrest.

[00:19:15]Man I was just trying to get some rest." My  point is that bail bond agents aren't the ones getting rich. They're really just the face  of the industry. The ones getting rich are the insurance corporations underwriting the loans. For  each fee an agent obtains, half is shared with the insurance corporation underwriting the bond. And  those corporations earn a massive gross profit of about 83% on bail bonds, much higher than the  33% profit margin on home or auto insurance.

[00:19:47]As I said, 76% of all commercial bail bonds are  underwritten by six large multinational insurance corporations. Getting accurate data from these  companies is difficult, especially because all but one of them are privately held, and they have  vast layers of subsidiaries. One of the biggest is Fairfax Financial Holdings, and it's the only  publicly traded company in the top six. It's a Canadian holding company and a global conglomerate  with over 20 subsidiaries. And subsidiaries within subsidiaries. They have net assets of over $107  billion and earn $4.7 billion in profits per year.

[00:20:32]They're primarily in the insurance business,  but they own lots of shit. Like Recipe Unlimited Corporation, which owns Canadian restaurants like  Swiss Chalet, Harvey's, St. Hubert, Montana's BBQ, Kelsey's Roadhouse, and Olive Garden Canada. They  have holdings in CVS Health, Under Armour Clothing, Warner Brothers Discovery, Orla Mining, and  Occidental Petroleum. One of their companies, Crumb and Forster, is the largest bail insurance  company in the US, and a major player in the American Bail Coalition. They've spent hundreds  of thousands fighting bail reform in the US, including $336,000 to defeat California's Prop  25, which would have abolished cash bail and replaced it with a risk assessment system. The  ABC organized a political action committee called Californians Against the Reckless Bail Scheme,  and spent $17 million to defeat the measure. Some localities have successfully moved to end cash  bail in favor of assessing the risk of individual defendants, especially in the 2010s when there was  renewed interest. However, despite the gains made, the future is unclear at best. A sharp increase  in crime during the COVID pandemic offered the perfect opportunity for some politicians, and the  corporations funding them, to blame bail reform.

[00:22:03]And recently in August of 2025, President Trump  signed an executive order threatening to cut federal funding to jurisdictions that allow the  practice of cashless bail for minor offenses like misdemeanors. Misdemeanors can include things  like loitering, vagrancy, disorderly conduct, public intoxication, and more. About 45 million  Americans, 14% of the population, have a misdemeanor conviction. And misdemeanors comprise  over 80% of all criminal charges filed each year.

[00:22:40]Personally, I think someone who's been arrested  for loitering, for hanging out in a public place, who is legally presumed innocent, should not be  spending months or years in jail awaiting their day in court, losing their job and housing in the  meantime, just because they can't afford bail. Nor do I think a wealthy person accused of murder  should be released just because they have money.

[00:23:04]And the really big question: should powerful  corporations be profiting from crime at all?

[00:23:10]When you bring in the profit motive into something  like rehabilitation and reform, you are obviously changing the vested interests. Ultimately,  the system doesn't have to be this way.

[00:23:24]The decision to release someone before their  trial should be based solely on whether they are a danger to the public, or a flight risk, rather  than the contents of their bank account. Hey, Mr. Federal Government, do you want to cut waste?  Do you want to cut bloat? Do you want to make things actually a bit better? It's easy. You could  start here. "Absolute specializes in getting you out and back to life, giving you two free tickets  to a hockey or ball game if you call us first."

[00:23:53]In a sentence, the bail system in  America is inefficient and unjust, not because it has been corrupted, but because  it has purposefully been built around the profit motive to the detriment of the taxpayer, and  indeed, many innocent people. But wait, there's more, in a video to come, that I haven't yet made.  See you there and thanks for watching. Goodbye.