St. Louis County is now accepting credit cards for bond payments.
The Department of Justice Services’ new process started a couple of weeks ago and allows people to go online and pay. The change will allow the department to be more efficient, said Kito Bess, its director.
“This was just one way that we felt that would be feasible for residents,” Bess said. “Without their families having to drive all the way down to Clayton, they can be able to process stuff online.”
Bess said the new payment process puts the jail in line with other facilities.
This will benefit families and detainees by expediting the release process, he said, but also benefits the jail as it deals with staff shortages. Bess added that this will be helpful to those working at night, when there are fewer bonds that are paid.
“Because we didn't have a vehicle for folks to post bond online, they still had to come,” Bess said.
Bess expects he’ll be able to reallocate certain positions to other departments.
Online bail payments have increased since the coronavirus pandemic and offer people a way to conveniently pay for bail, Bail Project CEO David Gaspar said.
“We understand that any amount of time could lead to job loss, losing their house, losing custody of their children,” Gasper said. “What's really important to note within that is that the judge has already made a determination that this person is capable of coming home, they're capable of being safe to the community, they're capable of returning successfully to court, and the only thing that's borrowing them from their freedom at the end of the day is just the ability to pay their bond.”
Gaspar said there are downsides to credit programs, especially for people who are poorer, which includes the time it takes the county to issue a refund. That can be more than 11 months.
“So if you're charging a bond on your credit card, now you're paying interest on that,” Gaspar said. “By the time that that person has their day in court and their disposition, they could have potentially paid 1,000-plus dollars in interest unnecessarily.”
Bess said people can still drive to Clayton to pay bond, but they won’t be able to pay with a credit card at the window.
St. Louis Public Radio's Rachel Lippmann contributed reporting to this story.
