From the Annals of Privatization: Bail

Here's a New York Times reporter who seems not to have spent much time hanging around the courthouse:

Bail, of course, is nominally the province of the government, but as with certain toll roads and various crucial functions of the military, it has lately seen a wave of privatization.

Link. I'll accept that as true, of course, if the writer will amend it to say:

Bail, of course, has been a private for-profit enterprise since day one.

If he still doubts it, he could look further down ion his own story, where he quotes the English Habeas Corpus Act of 1679:

A Magistrate shall discharge prisoners from their Imprisonment taking their Recognizance, with one or more Surety or Sureties, in any Sum according to the Magistrate’s discretion.

Own recognizance is what explains all those forlorn little neon signs in the shabby storefronts around the jasil, where you can get 24-hour service (with one or more Surety or Sureties) from the bail bondsman. If he still doubts it, he should spend the next six weeks handcuffed to Robert DeNiro, as did Charles Grodin in my favorite chase movie:

Here's a a good history of the bail issue in America, with appropriate background.