The public slept safer Wednesday and Thursday. That’s because authorities locked up Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and her assistant and stuck them each with a $500,000 cash bond. Sarcasm intended.

We have cash bail for a reason. It gives suspects, presumed innocent, the option of freedom while improving the odds that person will behave and show up to court. Money is at stake. Typically, it is someone else’s money. It belongs to family who mortgaged a house or a bail bonding service with bounty hunters to capture clients who flee or violate conditions of bail. The money creates accountability.

Bobby Brown of Palmer Lake and former Coloradan “Dog” Duane Chapman the Bounty Hunter showcased this system in a popular TV series often filmed in our state. There was little they would stop at to bring violent suspects to justice because money was at stake.

Thanks to Colorado Springs Democratic state Sen. Pete Lee and his “justice reform” acolytes, Colorado’s system no longer works this way — unless one offends the wrong politicians and gets accused of nonviolent crimes involving an intricate political web.

The Gazette published an in-depth report in February documenting how soft-on-crime policies led mostly by Lee — chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee — correspond with violent suspects getting quick-released on low-cash or no-cash bonds only to recommit violent crimes. Police tell of suspects released on personal recognizance bonds who stand charged with homicides committed after their no-cost releases.

When Republicans introduced a bill to ensure a minimum $1,000 cash bond for violent-crime suspects, Lee’s committee killed it in March — despite data showing the dangers of releasing felons without financial strings attached.

In that context, consider the cases against the two women slapped Wednesday with a combined $1 million bond — lowered Thursday afternoon to an amount higher than suspects typically face in violent crimes. A grand jury indicted Peters with three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, criminal impersonation, two counts of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, identity theft and “official misconduct” for noncompliance with Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold. It all stems from highly charged political disputes about election computers in the 2020 election.

The jury indicted Deputy Clerk Belinda Knisley on three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty and failing to comply with Griswold. “My Pillow Guy” Mike Lindell supports the women and he’s rich, which might explain the insane original bail amount. That’s not how this should work.

The women face serious charges. Should a jury find the two guilty, they deserve serious sentences.

We know nothing of their innocence or guilt. Instead, we trust a system that assumes innocence until evidence proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

We do know this as an indisputable fact. Colorado does not need steel bars to protect public safety while Peters and Kinsley await due process. Our safety does not rest on a massive bounty on their heads.

The bond comes from the same judicial district that set free Michael McFadden on a technicality after he serial-raped multiple children younger than 12 and otherwise faced 324 years in prison. Upon release, the rapist quickly made his way to the streets of Colorado Springs.

The cash bonds attached to Peters and Kinsley showcase how Colorado’s criminal justice system has no moral compass. Politics matter more than public safety. It puts a $1 million leash on women with charges involving no blood, death, drugs or ruined lives. Meanwhile, it sets free at little or no cost the people charged with violent acts and drug crimes that cause bodily harm and death. Justice reformers have broken our system.