Mayor Bill de Blasio has made accelerating bail payment part of his plan to cut the city’s jail population in half and close the Rikers Island complex. The city is financing a $478,800 expansion of the program, called Bail Expediting Program, and more people will be eligible for the program. Currently, the Bail Expediting Program, or BEX, helps people whose bail is less than $3,500 by contacting relatives and guiding them through the payment process. “It’s the reason why we’re putting up an online bail system, we’re making sure there are cash machines in all the courthouses. Fortunately, a worker from the Bail Expediting Program, was sitting near him in court and escorted him to the front of a long line at the bail payment window before it closed for lunch.

Source: New York Times August 29, 2017 21:45 UTC