THREAD: Preston Chaney died in the Houston jail. He was trapped there for 3.5 months b/c he couldn't pay $100 after being accused of stealing lawn equipment and frozen meat. This week Texas may pass a bill that would kill many more poor people. It's vital that you help. (1)
Preston Chaney was 64 years old, and he had diabetes, heart disease, and liver disease. He was forgotten inside the jail because he was poor. Records show he was never even taken to the court in charge of his case before he contracted COVID and died struggling for oxygen. (2)
Sandra Bland died in a Texas jail cell when she was 28 years old because she couldn't pay cash bail. In Houston alone, about *10 people died every year* before @CivRightsCorps @tfdp @ACLUTx @ACLU @TXCivilRights sued on behalf of people who are too poor to pay cash bail. (3)
The TX system for defending poor people is horrific. A few lawyers make hundreds of thousands of dollars taking huge numbers of cases but doing little work. Many of them do not even meet their clients until pleading them guilty after months in jail. (4) texasmonthly.com/articles/unche…
Our @CivRightsCorps filing in federal court in our case against the bail system noted that Preston Chaney's lawyer billed for *two hours* of work on his case in the 3.5 months he was in jail before he died. The lawyer even tried to bill for work *two days after he died.* (5)
As the Houston jail recently swelled to almost 9,000 human beings it became the site of an outbreak. But the DA and judges declined to even hold individual hearings to look into cases like Preston Chaney's. Thousands of people were left to get sick because they are poor. (6)
Many of those left to suffer because they couldn't pay cash bail were children. Our team @CivRightsCorps
is working every day to get more of them out of jail as we speak. (7)
is working every day to get more of them out of jail as we speak. (7)
https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1357390064582619136
And now, behind closed doors, Texas is moving a bill that would make things worse: it would block release from jail for many people unless they pay cash and block judges from being able to get people back home quickly. Huge profits for bail industry... (8) texastribune.org/2021/04/14/tex…
The law will enshrine unconstitutional practices, separate tens of thousands of children from their parents, lose people jobs/houses/medical care, and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Many have been tricked into thinking this is "bail reform." Please do what you can. (end) 
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