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A top national figure in the bail industry warned of the dangers behind a Virginia bill heading to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk that would remove bond requirements for previously convicted felons
Virginia state Del. Katrina Callsen, D-Charlottesville, drafted HB 357, which critics say makes it easier for criminals to get out of jail on an unsecured bond. The bill passed both chambers in Richmond along party lines.
In comments to Fox News Digital on Monday, National Association of Bail Agents President Michelle Esquenazi said she was familiar with the Virginia legislation and that it will only serve to erode public safety.
“We believe any time recidivist offenders are released due to unsecured bail policies, it puts communities in direct danger,” Esquenazi said. “Many are unaware of how secured bonds insulate public safety throughout the United States of America.”
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“This bill is in direct contrast to the needs of all communities in Virginia, whether they are Republican, Democrat, or Independent.”
Esquenazi said criminals don’t choose victims based on political ideology and that policymakers have failed to understand that bringing criminals to justice should be nonpartisan.
While Callsen did not respond to requests for comment, similar legislation in recent years has often come about as a wish for offenders to receive “second chances” — a dynamic Fox News Digital asked Esquenazi about.
“The secured bail industry is an industry of second chances,” she said.
“However, if you’re going to continue to commit crime, policymakers have to understand and take into account that committing crime is not a mandate. It’s a career choice.”
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Policies like HB 357 serve to give recidivists more than just second but third and subsequent chances because a second chance is “only a title,” which the policies themselves far exceed, she said.
Justice Forward Virginia, a progressive criminal justice reform group focused on advancing related legislation, listed the bill in its section of 2026 priorities. The group did not respond to a request for comment.
Callsen’s bill removes language from Code of Virginia § 19.2-123 governing “Release of accused on unsecured bail or promise to appear” that currently states any person arrested for a felony or who is on bond for an unrelated arrest or on parole may only be released upon securing a secured bond.
Instead, it retains only language providing preestablished conditions of release for that offender.
Other critics took to X, including Club For Growth’s Andrew Follett, who posted a passage from Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn about a civilian being punished more for being caught with a concealed knife than a felon for whom it would be “mere misbehavior; tradition” — and commented that “Democrats have a crush on criminals — it isn’t more complicated than that.”
“Under leftist ideology, society is responsible for crime, not individuals,” Follett said.
“Or, [Virginia House] Speaker Don Scott is preparing for his next arrest,” quipped another X user.
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Scott, D-Portsmouth, served more than 7 years of a 10-year 1994 sentence for federal crack cocaine-related charges — and was one of thousands of convicts who had their rights to vote and serve in office restored by GOP Gov. Robert F. McDonnell in 2013.
After former President Biden pardoned him in 2025, Scott said that his “journey from being arrested as a law student to standing here today as the first Black Speaker of the House of Delegates in Virginia’s 405-year history is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and transformative power of second chances,” according to Hampton Roads’ ABC affiliate.
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