Republicans in the Iowa House have voted to end a pilot program that supporters say is reducing the number of people who sit in jail while awaiting trial. After a person is charged with a crime, officials in Polk, Scott and Woodbury Counties this year have begun using the computer program to weigh the risk of releasing that person without requiring him or her to post a bond. Representative Gary Worthan, a Republican from Storm Lake, says some of the people who were released under this process should not have been released.

 

Representative Ako Abdul-Samad, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the program has helped some low-income people charged with a crime who couldn’t afford bail get released while they waited for their trial.

 

Linn County officials put their participation in the program on hold once legislators signaled it was going to be terminated.