Texas Bail Agents Not Happy with New Sheriff in Town

Four bail agents in Starr County, Texas are not happy with the dissolution of the county's bail bonds oversight board. The bail agents claim to have found over 250 instances of the new sheriff accepting bonds from prisoners that fall outside the county rules.

The oversight board was originally founded in 2002 after Dave Jones, Octavio Castaneda, Daniel Villarreal and Mike Escovar sued the county to stop the Sheriff's Office from releasing inmates to their family members or lawyers with property promised instead of a formal bond through a bail agent. The oversight board was dissolved in part because county officials argued many citizens were cash poor but land rich. Under the state's homestead rules, however, primary residences are protected from county confiscation, raising more questions about the wisdom of allowing informal property bonds.

A 2008 attorney general's opinion on the dissolution of the bail oversight board suggests that it was illegal for the board to be dissolved because it wasn't dissolved by the Texas legislature.