We’re accustomed to seeing violent criminals released on little or no bond in New York, Chicago, and California, but evidently, this jailbreak is occurring even in Alaska. The cases seem to get worse as time goes on, as political momentum among the judges and politicians tilts even further to the criminals. Such is the case of Kayshawn Dyett.

In May 2018, Dyett was arrested for first-degree rape after two women independently accused him of rape on the same day in April. In what has become a growing jailbreak epidemic in all 50 states, Dyett was released on just $5,000 bond in July of that year, even though police believed there were more victims. He was placed under house arrest with an ankle monitor, but these monitors have been proven unreliable in deterring violent criminals.

Shortly after his release, six more women came forward with similar rape accusations, and Dyett was indicted on a total of 12 rape charges against eight women. According to KTVA, “Some of Dyett's accusers testified at a bail hearing, imploring the court to keep Dyett in custody, fearing for their safety and the safety of others.” Under normal circumstances, a man like this would be held without bail or on over $1 million cash bail, yet prosecutors only asked for $100,000. The defense attorney accused the women of being part of the #MeToo exploitation and implored the judge to keep the bail at $5,000. Anchorage Superior Court Judge Kevin Saxby set Dyett free on just $10,000 bail. He even allowed Dyett to stay out of jail for two additional weeks so he could come up with the paltry sum, ultimately enabling him to remain out on the streets for an entire additional year, despite the indictments for eight separate rapes.

As KTVA reports, according to court documents, Dyett violated the terms of his bail twice in recent months, including the second time last month when he met the ninth alleged victim.

A different judge, Michael Wolverton, responded in September by increasing his bail … by $1,000. Dyett easily paid the sum. 15 days later, on October 10, 2019, Dyett is accused of raping and strangling a ninth victim in a manner consistent with the other cases.

At last Thursday’s arraignment, Judge Patrick McKay set the new cash bail at $500,000, which is still historically low for one accused of such heinous crimes.

As I chronicled in my profile of New York’s abolish-bail policies, the problem with releasing dangerous criminals pretrial, often for years, is not just the fact that it provides them with more opportunities to victimize and commit more crimes. It makes it hard to convict them for the first crime(s), because a successful conviction hinges upon testimony from victims and witnesses. They are scared enough to come forward even with the criminal locked up. Imagine this man out on the streets with the rape victims knowing that they are targets with no protection. Sadly, this is done by design – it’s a feature, not a bug, of the “bail reform” agenda – for the purpose of reducing the prison population at all costs.