Trump reignites big proposal that could change the American prison system forever

President Donald Trump called for an end to cashless bail, a bold move that could overhaul the way the American prison system works.

Trump claims the financial-based bail system results in a rise in crime, and he called for it to come to an end. 

‘Crime in American Cities started to significantly rise when they went to CASHLESS BAIL. The WORST criminals are flooding our streets and endangering even our great law enforcement officers. It is a complete disaster, and must be ended, IMMEDIATELY!,’ he wrote on Truth Social on Monday. 

Crime, in fact, is not on the rise in most American cities right now. The latest national and city-level data for 2025 actually show violent crime, murders and shootings declining during the first six months of the year.  

Some reports indicate the U.S. is on track for the lowest property and violent crime rates since national record-keeping began in the 1960s. 

The president has – in recent days – posted other items on social media that are tied to the prison system, including an AI-generated video of Barack Obama being arrested at the White House.

Trump also has called for Alcatraz, California’s infamous island prison, to be reopened. 

While Trump signed criminal justice legislation into law during his first term that  reduced certain mandatory minimum sentence and expanded eligibility for early release, he did not take on the bail system. 

President Donald Trump called for the end of the cashless bail system

Trump has had his own experience with cash bonds in order to stay out of prison.

He had to post a $175 million bond to New York in a case involving his business practices.

And he was required to post $200,000 bond in his election subversion case in Georgia, which he did so after surrendering at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta in August 2023.

But Trump falsely claimed in May 2024 that he had to put up bail in his New York hush money case, saying New York City was violent because other defendants did not have to post bail. 

He was actually released on his own recognizance, like many charged with a non-violent crime. 

And in two federal cases – one in Washington, DC, over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, and one in Florida over his post-presidency retention of classified documents – Trump was released on his own recognizance.

A cashless bail system would see defendants released based on factors like flight risk or a danger to community and not on ability to pay. 

However, the system may not work like Trump wants it to.

Studies show cashless bail does not keep the prison population down

A study in California earlier this year found 70 percent of suspects released on zero-dollar bail, reoffended.  The state recently ended its current money bail system.

The data showed suspects released on zero-dollar bail were twice as likely to be rearrested for felonies and three times as likely to be rearrested for violent crimes compared to those who had to post bail, CBS News reported.

Proponents of cashless bail, however, say it could decrease prison populations as a cash bail system sees people being detained in jail, sometimes for lengthy periods of time while awaiting trial, solely because of their inability to pay.

Illinois, in 2023, became the first state to eliminate the use of cash bail.

But the move didn’t decline prison populations as much as expected, a study from the Center for Criminal Justice at Loyola University in Chicago found.

‘What’s changing is that the means of release are changing,’ David Olson, a co-director of the center, told ABC News. ‘People don’t have to post the money, and rather than being released in a few days when they come up with the money, they’re being released in a day or two.’