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 knew his rights had been violated but they chose not to release him or have a hearing about whether he should be kept in a cage for $500. Instead, they finally gave him a lawyer after a few more weeks in a cage. (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)
No one was fired. No one resigned. No one paid him any damages. None of the officials who violated his rights were prosecuted. You never heard of the case. Such is "the rule of law." (5)
What he endured was not the result of a "bad" prosecutor or a "bad" judge or "bad" cops. And it isn't special to Alabama. We see it across the country. It is the result of a bureaucracy that is *designed this way.* This is what good prosecutors, good judges, and good cops do. (6)
Ordinary people are capable of causing immense suffering, for no good reasons. In fact, I bet none of the bureaucrats involved in illegally jailing him for 3 years have thought about him since. (7)
Every feature of this bureaucracy, from what is considered a "crime" to who is arrested for those "crimes" to how cruelly we choose to punish those people is based on who has power. Please read more to learn how it works and why. (End). yalelawjournal.org/forum/the-puni…
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