Whole world has gone nutz

prisons.

https://www.ksat.com/news/family-of-inmate-who-died-at-bexar-county-jail-didnt-know-loved-one-was-detained

SAN ANTONIO - The family of an inmate who died at the Bexar County jail on Friday said they didn’t know their loved one was in jail and thought she was being treated at the state hospital.

Janice Dotson-Stephens, 61, had been held in jail for criminal trespass.

Leticia Dotson, Dotson-Stephens' daughter-in-law, and her husband said they were devastated to find out her mother-in-law had died in jail.

“We just felt that she shouldn’t have died as a criminal in the jailhouse," Dotson said. "She wasn’t a criminal. She had mental health illness."

Dotson said Dotson-Stephens had a history of mental illness and health problems and had been arrested before but would be quickly evaluated and transferred to the state hospital.

That didn't happen the last time — Dotson-Stephens sat in jail since July.

Dotson said she wishes family members had been contacted.

“If it changed and we had to bail her out before the process of getting her to the state hospital, we would have done that,” Dotson said.

Dotson-Stephens' bail had been set at $300. That means, likely, it would have taken about $30 for her to get out.

Who monitors what is happening? There is a huge problem here!

What have we become?

She was in jail for 6 months.

Had no record of any kind.

Had no one who knew she was there to help her get out.

So, what the hell, why not torment the poor woman?

So sick this happened. Also so sick it happened and nothing will be done to keep it from happening again. Sick no one from the "authorities" will even apologize.

No sincere promises that this is the very last time anyone is going to get treated like trash in that town.

May she rest in peace, finally.

3 days in - time served

WTF

Obviously this poor lady shouldn't have been in jail. But how did her family go for 6 months without trying to see her? She should have been able to count on them as well as on the court system that failed her.

That's the problem with homeless relatives. They probably didn't want her to be homeless, but unless they had a spare room, a spare car, spare cash and spare time, what could they do?

But what about Thanksgiving? Not one question - wondering - where she was?

Certainly not one where all the relatives gather together. In my childhood I remember celebrating Thanksgiving every few years at best, and never with anyone other than my parents and my sister.

That Norman Rockwell shit with aunts and uncles and in-laws all gathered around a table? Fantasy.

on a family dynamic. I can’t judge anyone in such a trying situation. It is often entirely beyond the coping skills of a family already overwhelmed by poverty and the day to day grind of getting by.

though the article says she died in an infirmary, so she wasn't completely neglected, also that she'd refused legal aid. So it isn't clear that she was treated badly and may well have had no better options. But that too is shameful.

To her refusing health... she likely wasn’t lucid. I have nephew who suffers mental health h issues, if he doesn’t take his meds he doesn’t know up from down.

https://whyy.org/articles/malcolm-jenkins-backs-changes-to-phillys-cash-bail-system-he-says-punishes-poverty/

The only thing stopping a complete elimination of it (for certain non-violent crimes and based on ability to pay) is the state code requirements.

Still, the D.A. has requested that the courts remove something like 25 types of non-violent charges, from requests for cash bail. And despite the hysterical and dire speculation about doing such, it not only helped to reduce the jail population and resulted in people still showing up to court on time, it also saved the city and commonwealth money by not incarcerating so many who were ultimately acquitted, yet sat in prison for months because they could not even post 10% (and included some who could or have sued for false imprisonment in some cases, resulting in a monetary settlement - money that could have gone towards other things if the city or state were not so blindly egregious in quota prosecutions).

and good riddance.