Faith Leaders, Detained People, and Civil Rights Groups File Lawsuit in California Challenging Riverside County’s Bail Process

Faith Leaders, Detained People, and Civil Rights Groups File Lawsuit in California Challenging Riverside County’s Bail Process

Riverside County, Calif. — On May 26, 2025, individuals detained in Riverside County jails filed a class action lawsuit challenging Riverside County’s cash-based jailing of individuals between their arrest and first court hearing, as well as Riverside County’s unnecessary delay of that hearing. Rabbi David Lazar and Reverend Jane Quandt chose to join this lawsuit because they view cash-based jailing as unconscionable. The lawsuit was filed against Riverside County Superior Court, Riverside County, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, and Sheriff Chad Bianco. Plaintiffs are represented by Public Justice, Civil Rights Corps, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai LLP, Prison Law Office, and Schonbrun Seplow Harris Hoffman & Zeldes, LLP.

The Complaint alleges that every day in Riverside County, individuals—who have not been convicted of any crimes, are presumed innocent, and are not yet represented by counsel—are confined in Riverside jails, based solely on their inability to pay arbitrary, pre-set bail amounts. Individuals that cannot pay the pre-set bail amounts remain in jail until their first court hearing, which for no good reason often does not occur until four or five days after their arrest. These individuals are not detained because they have been determined to be too dangerous to release. They simply do not have the resources to pay for their freedom. California courts have repeatedly found this practice patently unconstitutional. For example, in a similar lawsuit in Los Angeles (Urquidi v. City of Los Angeles), a judge ruled that LA’s bail schedule system, which was almost identical to Riverside County’s, was unconstitutional. Yet, the Riverside County defendants sued continue to violate the Constitution and hold individuals in the second-deadliest jail system in the country solely because they cannot afford to pay money bail.

“Keeping people in jail simply because their families can’t afford to pay cash bail destabilizes their lives, separates them from their loved ones, and subjects them to dangerous and inhumane conditions, while doing nothing to protect public safety,” said Brian Hardingham, a senior attorney at Public Justice’s Debtors’ Prison Project. “Riverside’s system of cash-based jailing is cruel to no purpose. And courts that have considered identical practices elsewhere have consistently ruled they are unconstitutional. It’s past time they’re halted in Riverside County.”

Cash-based bail policies like those in Riverside County are not simply unconstitutional. They also inflict severe and lasting harm on the individuals detained, their families, and their communities. Families are separated. Jailed individuals often lose their jobs and housing. Importantly, multiple scientific studies have shown that, contrary to popular belief, cash-based bail policies actually increase, rather than decrease, crime and do not increase the likelihood that individuals will appear in court for further hearings. In fact, in Urquidi, the court noted that all evidence pointed to pretrial detention being “criminogenic”: it causes more crime by destabilizing people’s lives. Many jurisdictions in California and other states have chosen to follow the law and have implemented pretrial release programs that do not depend on individuals’ ability to pay. These programs have proven to be much more effective than cash-based bail policies in improving public safety and appearance rates.

“Deciding whether to jail someone based on how much cash they can access is cruel and counterproductive. So is jailing a person for five days without a hearing, a lawyer, or any due process at all,” said Salil Dudani, senior attorney for Civil Rights Corps. “Our clients have been separated from their families, their jobs, and their lives for days not because anyone has found them too dangerous to release, but simply because they cannot afford the price of release. Their goal in this case is simple: put a stop to senseless cash-based jailing and unconstitutional hearing delays in Riverside.”

“It is a sad day when the government branches responsible for deciding and enforcing the law choose to break it every day by locking people up simply because they are poor,” said Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai partner Brian Olney. “This lawsuit is necessary to end Riverside County’s outrageous and unconstitutional conduct.”

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Civil Rights Corps is a nonprofit organization dedicated to challenging systemic injustice in the United States’ legal system. Through innovative civil rights litigation, advocacy, and public education, we aim to re-sensitize the legal system and our culture to the injustice and brutality that characterizes the contemporary U.S. legal system. We work to shift power to community-led movements, particularly those led by Black, brown and poor people who are most impacted by the unjust legal system, in order to create structural change. civilrightscorps.org

Public Justice takes on the biggest systemic threats to justice of our time—abusive corporate power and predatory practices, the assault on civil rights and liberties, and the destruction of the earth’s sustainability. We connect high-impact litigation with strategic communications and the strength of our partnerships to fight these abusive and discriminatory systems and win social and economic justice. For more information, visit www.publicjustice.net.

Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai, LLP is one of the most successful civil rights firms in the country. HSRD pursues justice through individual and class action lawsuits, legal services, education, and community-based efforts.