Bail reform bill considered by California Legislature

In late 1987, Sheri Costa drove her three young children from Alameda County to Fresno County to see her husband in jail. He had been arrested more than 30 days earlier in Fresno on charges of drug possession with intent to sell and distribute, and the price of his freedom was set: $100,000.

Costa paid a bail bondsman $10,000 in cash, a non-refundable deposit representing 10 percent of the bail. For the bail bondsman to pay the remaining $90,000, she also needed to promise property as collateral. But at 26, she didn’t own a home, so she convinced her friend’s parents to put up their homes.