Is Florida running a bail grift?

That’s how one Judge described the state’s decades-old policy of keeping bail money from third parties and using it to pay off defendants’ outstanding fines and fees.

At least one member of an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel that considered the issue this month appears to agree with that assessment.

So do several current and former lawmakers who have tried to end the practice.

Florida is the only U.S. state that forces local governments to take money from organizations and individuals who post bail for another person to cover the defendant’s debt.

State law mandates that county Clerks must seize bail money that’s usually returned to pay for defendants’ fines and fees, regardless of who paid.

Those fees and fines frequently add up to hundreds or

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