Judges citywide set bail in roughly 45,000 cases each year, and only 12 percent of defendants can pay in time to be released from court. Another 46 percent end up going to jail for up to a week because they cannot pay in the narrow window of time between their arraignment and when the next bus leaves. 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.
