‘Jail doors will not swing open’: Kane officials react to Illinois Supreme Court SAFE-T Act decision

In a 5-2 decision July 18, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the SAFE-T Act – the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act – ending cash bail as a requirement is constitutional.

Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain said his office, the State’s Attorney, Chief Judge Clint Hull and Court Services all have been working for the past two years to be ready when the SAFE-T Act goes into effect.

“We were ready Dec. 31 to launch it the next morning, but then it was suspended for Supreme Court review,” Hain said. “We’ve been practicing the last few months. We are in a good position to implement it on Sept. 18. … We are ready to launch at any point.”

The act passed in 2017 and was scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, 2023, but it went on hold after a state court judge ruled in December that it was unconstitutional. The high court’s ruling July 18 overturned that decision.

“The act requires the court to consider the nature and seriousness of the real and present threat to the safety of any person or persons … that would be posed by the defendant’s release,” according to the high court’s ruling. “The crime victims’ rights clause mentions the ‘amount of bail,’ not the amount of monetary bail. The word ‘amount’ connotes a quantity and does not only mean a quantity of money but rather, consonant with the bail clause, a quantity of sufficient sureties.”

In other words, defendants will be held or released pretrial depending on other factors, but not their ability to post bond, according to the state law.

Hain said Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser was one of a few people allowed at the table with those who created the bill so some issues that law enforcement wanted addressed were corrected.

“We are pro cashless bail. We want to make sure it’s done right and most of the bugs ironed out in the law itself,” Hain said.

And contrary to popular belief, “the jail doors will not swing open,” he said.

Defendants can be held on enumerated offenses and they can appeal through their attorneys for release, Hain said.

“It does not mean walking out the door,” Hain said.

In an email, Mosser said she would not have a comment about the Supreme Court’s decision.

“That’s a good thing,” Mark Guethle, chairman of the Kane County Democrats, said about the state’s high court finding the SAFE-T Act constitution.

“The lawmakers voted on it. The state House and Senate majority voted on it. The governor signed it,” Guethle said. “The lawmakers were elected by the people and they expect them to vote on things they support. My view is that the majority of the people support it and that’s why it passed. And I’m glad the Supreme Court decided it is constitutional.”

Andro Lerario, chairman of the Kane County Republican Party, said the governor and Democrats are celebrating – until the first time somebody gets out and commits another crime.

“I don’t like it,” Lerario said. “Judges already have an opportunity not to make a mistake one day and have the wrong person let go.”

Lerario said the bail system gave some sort of protection against letting the wrong person out.

“What it comes down to is what was the crime and which particular judge do they get in front of,” Lerario said. “There’s a lot of moving parts to this. … I pray we don’t find out the hard way by somebody who does not go pretrial [jail], but goes out there and carjacks a car and somebody gets hurt. … I will feel bad for the victim and the victim’s family.”