New Process Tightens Prison Bail Policy
A new rule has added a step for those seeking to be released on bail from Schuylkill County Prison, but also made it easier for them to stay free pending resolution of their case.
No one arrested in the county in a criminal case will be freed on bail until they have been fingerprinted and photographed, Sheriff Joseph G. Groody said in announcing a measure, which was approved by the county Prison Board. The move, he says, merely enforces the law. “Every time you’re arrested in a criminal case, you have to be fingerprinted and photographed,” said Groody, a former Ashland police officer.
The policy, which already is in effect, should reduce the number of people being arrested for not having those done — which is a violation of their bail conditions. “We did have a problem with people just walking out of prison and going home without being fingerprinted,” said Roy J. Eiler, a former Pottsville police officer who runs the county Central Booking Office where fingerprinting and photographing are done. “They didn’t obey a condition of their bail. Failure to do so results in a warrant of arrest being issued for default in required appearance.” That, in turn, led to more arrests, and more avoidable criminal cases, Groody said. “It’s a big workload in the (magisterial district judges’) offices,” he said. “That’s what I’m trying to alleviate. Its going to make a big saving in the magisterial district judges’ workloads.”
Eiler said the policy conforms to the state Crimes Code, which requires fingerprints to be taken after all arrests. Furthermore, magisterial district judges also order fingerprints as a condition of a defendant’s bail, he said. In spite of that, many defendants don’t comply with the requirement, Eiler said. “They try to evade it. It’s to their benefit to try to evade it,” he said.