McMaster orders crackdown on ‘shady’ bail bonds practices in South Carolina [The State]

State (Columbia, SC)

In an attempt to reduce the number of repeat criminal offenders walking freely, South Carolina’s governor announced he’ll push for stronger regulation of the state’s bail bonds industry.

On Friday, Gov. Henry McMaster ordered the state Department of Insurance (DOI) to crack down on bail bondsmen who fail to report when defendants violate conditions of their bond.

The order will require all licensed bondsmen to report violations of bond and empowers DOI to punish bondsmen who fail to take action when a defendant is not complying with court-imposed requirements of bond.

DOI has not historically regulated bad acts within the commercial bail bonds industry or regulated electronic monitoring companies. But, according to the governor’s office, recent complaints of bondsmen failing to report defendants who violate conditions of their bond, including house arrest or maintaining an ankle monitor, has prompted a reexamination of the insurance agency’s role in the judicial system.

In a statement Friday, the governor’s office went so far as to classify some of these bail bondsmen practices as “shady.”

“Any comprehensive effort to close the revolving door of repeat offenders and violent criminals must hold bad actors in the bail-bond industry accountable for refusing to do their job,” McMaster said in a news release. “We’re opening lines of communication between prosecutors and the Department of Insurance so bad actors are appropriately dealt with and we’re making it more difficult for them to go undetected. From now on, if a bondsmen is caught coddling a criminal, they will lose their license to operate in South Carolina.”

The governor’s announcement comes barely a week after Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott held a press conference with state Sens. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, and Brian Adams, R-Berkeley, where they expressed growing concern with the holes in South Carolina’s bond system.

“Bondspeople have now been put on notice,” Lott said. “Everyone in the system has to be held accountable.”

The governor’s order will also establish a standardized, statewide process that allows solicitors to refer complaints about licensed bondsmen to DOI. The order also notifies licensed bondsmen that that DOI will have the power to strip bondsmen of their license or subject them to civil penalties if they fail to report infractions. Any suggestion of criminal conduct by bondsmen uncovered by DOI will be turned over of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, according to the statement.

“Unfortunately, grifters and other opportunists have infiltrated the bail bond business and their profiteering continues to threaten our safety,” 9th Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said in a statement. “The Governor’s Order will help weed-out unsavory bondsmen who aid and abet violent criminals who continually wreak havoc in neighborhoods across our great state.”

In a preview of his upcoming public safety proposals, McMaster’s statement also called on the General Assembly to pass legislation to enhance the state’s oversight of bail bondsmen, establish minimum standards for court-ordered GPS monitoring and impose penalties on bondsmen who fail to maintain electronic monitoring or report violations of bond to court.

Bond reform has been an ongoing discussion for Lott. Since August, two Richland County deputies have been injured while pursuing suspects who were out on bond.

“Not everybody needs to stay in jail,” Lott said, “but those that demonstrate that they’re not going to follow the rules, they’re not going to get a third, fourth, fifth chance.”