Portune wants to track bonds

A study released Tuesday about the exploding jail populations across the country got commissioners talking.

One problem, according to the study, is high bonds being set for minor crimes.

It prompted this suggestion by Hamilton County Commission President Todd Portune: a record could be kept of which judges are setting what bonds “So we can see who’s contributing to the problem.”

“I’d like to see a scorecard that we can go back and look at the judges and see who is historically setting high bonds on low-level crimes. Maybe that will impose some self-discipline,” he said. “There are only so many rooms at the inn”

Portune mentioned as an example, the recent case in which Hamilton County Municipal Judge Richard Bernat set a $1 million bond for an 18-year-old $21 theft case. Commissioners and some judges (Judge Nadine Allen is perhaps the most vocal proponent) support the purging of old warrants for non-violent crimes to save the courts and jails time and money. The Criminal Justice Commission is examining that issue.

“People rightly get outraged when they see jail space being used up on cases like this,” Commissioner David Pepper said of the $1 million bond case.

It’s unclear whether Portune's suggestion is feasible. He instructed county staff to look into it.

The Enquirer is seeking comments from the court.

UPDATE: Here's what Clerk of Courts Greg Hartmann said about it.

Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Greg Hartmann said his office does not have any system set up to track bond data in that way.

“We’d have to build a program to track it judge by judge and we haven’t received any request to do so.”

Hartmann is running for the Hamilton County commission seat being vacated by Commissioner Pat DeWine, who is running for municipal court judge. Hartmann agrees overcrowding is a problem, but said it shouldn’t be blamed on the judges. Tracking the bonds they set is not a good way to solve it, he said.

“I think we need to be careful not to overreact to one case in which there was an extremely high bond,” he said.

“Judges look at all kinds of different factors. That’s their job as judges. We need to be careful about telling judges how to do their job.