(The Center Square) – A report from a Congressional watchdog found no evidence U.S. Department of Justice grants were used to pay cash bond for bail although grant money did go to organizations that back programs that help people get out of jail before trial.
Congress asked the Government Accountability Office to determine if nonprofits had used federal grant funds to pay for bail on behalf of individuals. The report examined grant and spending data from fiscal years 2017 through June 2022.
In U.S. courts, judges generally decide if those facing criminal charges should be jailed or released. Bail is the process of release that requires a contract between a defendant and the court, known as a bond. Bonds can be financial, such as a cash bond. Other bonds don’t involve money, but rather the promise to appear in court. The Department of Justice gives federal money to state and local governments, for-profit and nonprofit organizations, tribal governments and educational institutions through various grant programs.
“Based on our review of available data and interviews with DOJ officials, we found no information to indicate DOJ awarded grants to nonprofits to pay cash bond for bail or that nonprofit recipients used DOJ grant funds for this purpose,” according to the Government Accountability Office report.
The report found that federal money went to nonprofits that support such projects. Department of Justice grant money did go to some nonprofits that have or support projects that pay cash bond, but officials from all three told Government Accountability Office officials that they did not use Department of Justice funds to pay cash bond. The nonprofit officials said they separate grant and program funds from funds used to pay cash bond, according to the report.
The Government Accountability Office report did not find any federal prohibitions that would prevent Department of Justice grants from being used to pay cash bond.
“We did not identify any express prohibitions in federal statutes or regulations on the use of DOJ grants to pay cash bond for bail on behalf of an individual. DOJ officials also confirmed that they are not aware of any such restrictions,” according to the report. “While there may be no express prohibitions in federal statutes or regulations on using DOJ grant funds for this purpose, recipients of DOJ grants must use grant funds for the purposes for which DOJ awarded the grant.”
However, the Government Accountability Office report found one program where paying for cash bond may be an allowable use of grant funds, but program officials “told us that they would have to evaluate any proposal to use [Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program] funds to pay cash bond for bail against applicable federal requirements.”
The Department of Justice’s fiscal year 2023 Discretionary Budget request totaled $37.7 billion, including $32.7 billion for federal programs and $4.9 billion for state, local and tribal assistance programs, according to the agency’s budget. The Department of Justice got $69.79 Billion in total budgetary resources, about 0.6% of the fiscal year 2023 U.S. federal budget, according to USAspending.gov.
