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In 2009, 191 of 210 clerk magistrates and assistants in Massachusetts padded their incomes by pocketing over $2.5 million in after-hours bail fees.
Clerk magistrates and assistants are paid salaries ranging from $84,000 to $110,000. Due to a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling that bail hearings must be held within six hours of arrest to avoid constitutional issues, the clerk magistrates and assistants are often called after work hours to set or deny bail.
If a bond is set and paid, the arrestee is charged a $40 fee. During normal business hours that fee goes into the state coffers. However, the fees for after-hours bail settings are pocketed by the clerk magistrates and assistants as a supplement to their salaries.
In 2009, 36% of Massachusetts clerk magistrates and assistants pocketed over $15,000 each in fees. Twenty-four took in more than $25,000 each. Further, 87 bail commissioners, appointed by the Superior Court Committee on Bail, pocketed another $734,000. About a third of the bail commissioners are also employed by the state in other capacities.
“This is a striking amount of money these fees are generating for these clerks,” said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “They are paid well. This should be a part of their responsibilities.”
Worchester District First Assistant Clerk Brendan T. Keenan, 58, led the pack in 2009, pocketing $54,990 in after-hours bail fees in addition to his $92,034 annual salary. Between 2006 and 2009, he made $266,710 in after-hours fees. The second-highest salary supplementer was Brockton District Clerk Magistrate Kevin P. Creedon, who added $42,947 in after-hours bail fees on top of his $110,221 annual salary.
“It’s not easy work at all,” said Keenan, who is on call one weekend and eleven weeknights per month. “They can call me at 4 in the morning and I’ll be there within half an hour.” ...
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This pretty well sums up the bail system in Massachusetts. Welcome to the land of plenty.