THREAD: This story is about a 68-year-old unhoused military veteran who just spent 382 days in jail because he lacked cash. His story is important. How he was treated by prosecutors, judges, and his own defense lawyer is chilling.
The man was arrested on Christmas Day 2020. He was accused of stealing a bottle of wine from a CVS and threatening to hit someone with the bottle of wine. He wasn't even brought to court for his own bail hearing, where the judge required him to pay $30,000.
A few days later, a judge reduced the cash bail amount to $5,000. Because only the U.S. and the Philippines have for-profit commercial bail industries, this meant that he could have paid $500 or less to a private company to be free. He couldn't pay.
He languished in the jail in downtown Houston, a place notorious for brutal beatings by guards, violent deaths, rampant infectious disease, lack of sunlight, and no fresh air. The brutal Harris County district attorney continued to insist on payment for his freedom.
Unfortunately, his case was assigned to Judge Kelli Johnson, who as of last week was responsible for human caging of 271 presumptively innocent people because they can't pay cash. Court records suggest Johnson never even bothered to bring the man to court for a bail hearing. 
One of the most striking things about Judge Johnson is the lack of attention to who is in jail and why. Many of the people she is detaining before trial have never even had a bail hearing in front of her. The normalization of human caging is stunning.
Our team @CivRightsCorps and the fantastic advocates at the Harris County Public Defender's office found the man languishing in the jail. For many months he wasn't even aware he had been given a private court-appointed lawyer. More on this scandal here: texastribune.org/2019/08/19/unc…
Our team @TXCivilRights @CivRightsCorps brought his story to light in fed court. That same day he was brought to court and given a choice: plead guilty and get out or fight his case from jail. He pled guilty. He was given 180 days in jail, although he had already served 382 days.
This is how the assembly line bureaucracy works. The poorest people in our society are caged, held for ransom, and coerced into pleading guilty for their freedom. This is because the system arrests so many people it couldn't possible have enough trials: yalelawjournal.org/forum/the-puni…
If you want to stay up to date about the the systemic horrors of Texas jails and get involved in helping, I suggest you follow @TxJailProject and support their work.
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