MANCHESTER, N.H. – On Monday, New Hampshire State Representative Ross Berry (R-Manchester) announced that he is filing legislation that would end personal recognizance (PR) bail for those arrested while currently out on bail.
Berry, who represents Hillsborough 44 (consisting of Manchester Wards 8 and 9 as well as Litchfield), says that the system has been abused in the past and that he believes anyone that is arrested while awaiting trial for another earlier arrest should face a judge for and be required to be held in custody until that point, even if it means holding those arrested in custody over the weekend.
He says that his constituents and police patrolmen have told him of people being arrested for the exact same crime that they were arrested for just hours earlier.
Berry adds that the bill he seeks to propose would not remove PR bill for those facing a first offense.
“Make no mistake, I believe the underlying law that gave us PR bail must be overhauled but it appears others in Concord do not have the political will power to get that done. It is my hope that we can reach common ground and agree that people who have been arrested multiple times should not be re-released without a real bail,” he says. “It has reached levels of ridiculousness that are stranger than fiction and I hope to help stem the flow of re-releasing criminals back onto our streets.”
