Shocking News Showcasing Bail Reform's Problems in New York

In 2019, New York State instituted what was hailed by its supporters as a landmark piece of bail reform legislation. No longer would justice be undermined by the bail bond agent. No longer would decent, upstanding citizens be victimized by a bail system intent on punishing people for being poor. Now, everyone but the most violent offenders (and even some of them) would be released on their own recognizance so that they could rejoin their model families and continue to contribute to the wellbeing of society at large.

It was a nice idea. Unfortunately, the bail bonding company was not and never has been the problem. The problem was that some people who had committed low-level offenses and posed no threat to anyone were being held indefinitely just because they could not afford to post bail. But instead of addressing this very specific group of people bail reformers pointed their pitchforks at purveyors of 24 hours bail bonds and declared that everything wrong with the criminal justice system was their fault. The results, to say the least, have been predictable.

The Chickens Come Home to Roost

Enter Frank Abrokwa. In just over a month Mr. Abrokwa has become the living, breathing embodiment of bail reform failure.

On February 21, 2022, Frank decided that a 57-year-old woman waiting for a subway train in Manhattan would be a good match for him. "Hey mami, hey mami! Why you don't talk to me?" the silver-tongue lothario beckoned to the woman. Much to his chagrin, she continued to resist his charming advance.

So Frank did what any other dangerous career criminal who had recently been released without bail for other alleged crimes would do: he defecated onto his hand and rubbed the resulting feces all over the woman’s hair, face, neck and upper torso while screaming “You like that b***h?”

He then ran out of the subway leaving the woman to deal with the aftermath of his horrific attack. The very next day he is accused of robbing a hardware store and threatening an employee with a screwdriver.

When he was finally arrested a week later it was discovered that he had been arrested no less than 44 times since 1999, and that just 1 day before the subway feces attack he had allegedly attacked a man in another subway incident, punching him in the head multiple times. He also had no less than 3 other cases of assault pending for which he had been released without bail.

Feces Frank Faces the Judge

On March 1^st, 2022, Frank was brought before a judge who would determine whether to hold him or not pending trial. Surely if there was ever someone who should not be released back onto the streets it was Frank Abrokwa. However, under New York’s 2019 bail reform legislation the judge was powerless to hold him or to impose bail that might have resulted in him being held, and he was released. Yup. Released. Just for good measure he told the presiding judge “f**k you” and called her a “b***h”.

The police did not take kindly to this miscarriage of justice and quickly picked Frank up again on an outstanding hate crime charge from 2021. Once again, however, this fine upstanding example of all that bail reformers nationwide hold dear was released with no strings attached.

Lawmakers Spurred Into Action

This last release turned out to be a bridge too far and lawmakers in NYC and Albany began to realize if they did not do something to quell public outrage they might not get re-elected. In short order NY governor Hochul did a 180 and announced she would seek changes to the 2019 bill that would give judges more discretionary power to hold suspects and to assign bail. That, after saying publicly just months before that she would not bow to public pressure when it came to bail reform.

The governor’s new tough-on-crime plan includes the following:

• Contrary to the 2019 law, it will allow judges to consider a person’s criminal history in deciding whether to impose bail.
• It will make repeat offenders like Frank eligible for bail, instead of simply being released.
• It will look into undoing the “Raise the Age” statute that raised the age a person could be tried as an adult from 16 to 18.
• Make certain gun-related offenses subject to arrest, rather than a simple desk appearance ticket as dictated by the 2019 law.

Before you get too excited about the prospect that dangerous individuals like Frank Abrokwa might finally be removed from the streets, however, keep these 3 words in mind: The Bail Project.

The Bail Project is a non-profit that seeks to undermine the integrity of the bail system by bailing out anyone and everyone who is being held because they cannot afford bail, regardless of the charges against them. Many people bailed out by The Bail Project have gone on to commit heinous crimes, including murder. But Bail Project directors are undeterred.

It Can’t Happen In Denver County, Can It?

So, the bottom line is that even if Frank winds up being held on bail next time he shows up in court, there’s a good chance The Bail Project will post his bond and he’ll be back on the street again, looking for love in all the wrong places. And if you think such abominations of justice can’t happen in Denver County or elsewhere in Colorado, consider that the Bail Project just opened their first Colorado office in Lakewood.

See our other writeups about bail bonding in New York:

• Killing Someone in New York is No Longer a Serious Offense - November 2019
• The New York Times Editorial Board Opens Their Mouth Before Checking Their Facts - January 2020
• Calls for Changes to NY’s Bail Reform Law Grow Louder - February 2020
• Recall Efforts Seek to Correct Cash Bail Reform's Consequences - July 2022
• Facts: Enemy of the Bail Reform Movement - October 2022