How Civil Rights Groups Are Unraveling Illegal Bail Schemes That Fill Jails With Poor People

How Civil Rights Groups Are Unraveling Illegal Bail Schemes That Fill Jails With Poor People

Monday, 26 October 2015 00:00
By Mike Ludwig, Truthout | Report


Like the majority of the nearly 750,000 people stuck in local jails across the United States, Rebecca Snow was not held in the Ascension Parish jail in central Louisiana because she had been convicted of a crime. The 33-year-old mother of three, who was charged with two nonviolent misdemeanors in late August, simply could not afford to post bail.

If Snow had the $289 set for each charge, she could have gone home to her family instead of sitting in jail. Many others arrested in the parish are able to post bail and go home, but Snow didn't have the extra cash: She relies on public assistance and is indigent, according to a civil rights complaint filed against the parish's sheriff and top judge.

The US Supreme Court and the Justice Department have both said that incarcerating someone solely because they can't afford to post cash bail is unconstitutional, but that was the policy in Ascension Parish until just a few weeks ago.

Ascension sheriff deputies would set bail during booking using a court-issued "schedule" that matched the alleged offense with a generic bail amount, and some arrestees waited days before seeing a judge who could hear a motion to reduce it, according to the complaint. No individual factors such as prior record or employment were considered, and even those arrested for minor crimes like traffic violations were not released without posting bail. ................(more)

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/33378-how-civil-rights-groups-are-unraveling-illegal-bail-schemes-that-fill-jails-with-poor-people