The Business of Bail Reform: Who Profits When Commercial Bail Dies - Part 1

By JL Fullerton

Part 1: Introduction

Have you ever wondered why so many organizations and businesses are involved in the bail reform movement?  Have you ever wondered why billionaire philanthropists spend so much money trying to “re-imagine” our criminal justice system.  And lastly, have you ever wondered who gains to benefit the most financially should the bail profession ever be eliminated?  If you have never thought about any of these questions you should.  Because the answers to them will help explain the true goal behind the bail reform movement and whether it is truly about fairness and equity or more about the money.

Eliminating secured bail has created a multi-billion-dollar industry shift, transferring costs from the private sector to taxpayers while funneling revenue to electronic monitoring companies, drug testing firms, risk assessment vendors, and well-funded nonprofit advocacy organizations. The same foundations that spent $700-800 million promoting bail reform also fund the alternative systems replacing it—a financial ecosystem where defendants once released for a 10% bondsman fee now face daily monitoring charges, mandatory drug tests, and algorithmic risk scores, while communities absorb both the costs and consequences of reform failures. The November 2025 case of Lawrence Reed—a man with 72 prior arrests who allegedly set a 26-year-old woman on fire on a Chicago train while on electronic monitoring for a previous violent assault—exemplifies what critics call the predictable human cost of a system designed by academics and funded by billionaire foundations, with implementation left to overwhelmed government agencies. But perhaps the most revealing question about bail reform isn't who opposes it. It's who supports it—and what they stand to gain. 

This article will be the first in a series of seven articles talking about the various parties who stand to gain should bail reform and cashless bail efforts succeed and commercial bail be eliminated.  Over the next several articles we will explore the behind-the-scenes motivations and financial incentives that exist for those who support cashless bail policies and the elimination of financially secured release.  It simply comes down to the simple phrase, “Follow the Money.”  The following list below contains the upcoming topics we will be covering.

Part 2:

When Private Prison Companies Promote Bail Reform, Follow the Money

Part 3:

The Electronic Monitoring Industry Found its Growth Engine

Part 4:

Risk assessment tools cost nothing upfront but extracted a different price

Part 5:

Charitable Bail Funds Collected $90 Million While Clients Committed Murders

Part 6:

Drug testing providers secured millions as requirements expanded

Part 7:

The Foundation Funding Network for Bail Reform has Invested Over $700 Million

We hope that you will follow and read the entire series.  With so much money at play around the issue of bail reform, we thought it might be a good idea to pull back the curtain so we can all see if this is true advocacy or just a game for profits.

Stay tuned for the next article in the Business of Bail Reform Series, Part 2: When Private Prison Companies Promote Bail Reform, Follow the Money