Two civil rights groups filed a class-action lawsuit against Riverside County in Southern California May 26, asserting its cash-based bail system is “unconscionable.”
The lawsuit was filed against Riverside County Superior Court, the county, the county sheriff’s office, and Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is a Republican candidate for governor.
Oakland-based Public Justice and Washington-based Civil Rights Corps, along with four public-interest law firms, allege the county’s system that requires cash bail for release is unconstitutional.
“Keeping people in jail simply because their families can’t afford to pay cash bail destabilizes their lives, separates them from their loved ones, and subjects them to dangerous and inhumane conditions, while doing nothing to protect public safety,” said Brian Hardingham, a senior attorney at Public Justice’s Debtors’ Prison Project….