Thread: When working on bail in Alabama, we found a man trapped in jail for cocaine possession because he couldn't pay $500 cash. He had been there for 3 years, and the system had forgotten to give him a lawyer. What happened to him is important. (1)
After two years in jail, the man desperately sent letters to the court trying to figure out what was happening to him. (2)
The prosecutor and the court chose not to release him or have a hearing about whether he should be kept in a cage for $500. Instead, they gave him a lawyer after a few weeks. (3)
Five months later, at the request of the local public defender, the man was released for free. One month after that, the prosecutor dropped all charges. (4)
What this man endured was not the result of a "bad" prosecutor or a "bad" judge or "bad" cops who caged him. And it isn't special to Alabama. It is the result of a bureaucracy that is designed this way. This is what good prosecutors and good judges and good cops do. (5)
Ordinary people are capable of causing immense suffering, for nothing. In fact, I bet none of the bureaucrats involved in his case have thought about him since, and I bet none of them meant to cause him pain. (6)
Every feature of the system, from what is considered a "crime" to who is arrested for those "crimes" to how cruelly we choose to punish those people is deeply influenced by race and profit. Please read more here to learn how it works and why (end). yalelawjournal.org/forum/the-puni…
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