Despite an order by the chief judge to take defendants’ ability to pay into account when setting bail, Judge Michael R. Clancy still often sets unaffordable bonds. He is one of 59 judges running for retention this fall.
A year after Cook County adopted sweeping bond reforms, the number of inmates held pretrial because they cannot make bail has dropped significantly. But with increasing frequency, bond court judges are ignoring the order that they not hold suspects by setting bail they cannot afford
Cook County’s Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans filed suit against the Cook County Board Thursday, contending the budget cuts would require laying off 161 court employees and put in jeopardy recent efforts to revamp the county’s bail system.