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May 26 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Yesterday, after seven years of litigating the debtors' prison case against #Ferguson, six Plaintiffs joined us & co-counsel from @whitecase and @CivRightsCorps to argue a Motion for Class Certification in Federal District Court. Our team is optimistic that yesterday’s hearing...
...was yet another important step toward long-overdue relief for more than 10,000 people detained by Ferguson for a total of 58 years of unlawful incarceration.

To learn more: archcitydefenders.org/for-immediate-…
Via @tonymess: There is a lesson for other cities across the nation as the Ferguson lawsuit drags on. Trying to undo the municipal schemes that extract money from poor people with devastating consequences is no trivial matter. The cities want their revenue. They will fight hard.
^^^ stltoday.com/news/local/col…

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More from @ArchCityDefense

ArchCity Defenders Profile picture
May 26
For years, clients & community members have reported hellish conditions at the Workhouse—flooding, extreme temperatures, sewage, rodent infestation, & violence. Yesterday, the court declared that in addition to our 6 clients—we believe thousands of others were similarly harmed. Image
This means that the City could owe millions of dollars to compensate thousands of people for the harms and atrocities they experienced while detained inside of the Workhouse.
“It feels like the chains are finally starting to be lifted,” said Diedre Wortham, a plaintiff and grandmother of five from St. Louis. “I’m hopeful that they close the Workhouse and keep it closed.”
Read 7 tweets
ArchCity Defenders Profile picture
May 23
As more families continue to grieve the loss of their loved ones who have been killed by police (most notably the tragic killing of five members of the Simmons family from a St. Louis police chase)-- impacted families with the FSV Response Program are preparing to talk… Image
…about their months-long policy advocacy efforts and publicly announce their demands of the City and County officials.

Tomorrow, join us for a press conference and rally led by families of those who have lost loved ones to police killings and deaths in jails… Image
Through their continued advocacy work to support solutions that bring real public safety, they are fighting so no other family has to suffer losing a loved one to state violence.

A livestream of the event will be available via Facebook. RSVP fb.me/e/1HUQVUrzK
Read 4 tweets
ArchCity Defenders Profile picture
Apr 5, 2021
#thread #STLJailsCrisis
Last night, the world once again beheld people whose basic rights have been violated, who have been caged by a system that criminalizes race & poverty, & who have been torn from their families because they could not afford a money bond/no bond was allowed.
Following protests in January and February, people last night held a banner from inside #STLCity’s “City Justice Center” that read, “HELP US,” and were heard saying they wanted court dates. While previous protests highlighted the jail’s lack of COVID safety protocols, lack of...
adequate food & access to water, abuse and retaliation by jail employees- people last night pointed to the injustice of money bail and pretrial detention.
Read 21 tweets
ArchCity Defenders Profile picture
Apr 5, 2021
A brief #STLJailsCrisis timeline:
November 2017: James Cody & other people detained in the Workhouse pretrial file a federal lawsuit against #STLCity alleging inhumane conditions at the Workhouse. Still pending.
April 2018: @CLOSEWorkhouse campaign starts to #closetheWorkhouse
September 2018 & January 2019: @CLOSEWorkhouse publishes two reports on the history of the Workhouse, problems with money bail, pretrial detention & the need for #STL to reimagine public safety. archcitydefenders.org/our-impact/clo…
January 2019: David Dixon sues #STLCity for an unlawful money bail system w/ ACD, @adv_project, @CivRightsCorps & @GeorgetownICAP in his corner.
June 2019: Federal judge in the Dixon case grants a preliminary injunction, orders people detained to get another bail hearing.
Read 13 tweets
ArchCity Defenders Profile picture
Feb 6, 2021
Some context for the uprising in the "City Justice Center" (CJC) in #STLCity. 1/6
2/6
3/6
Read 6 tweets
ArchCity Defenders Profile picture
Apr 30, 2020
#Thread
For years, @STLCityGov has displaced, punished, arrested, brutalized, prosecuted, jailed, and traumatized countless people who are unhoused and then had the gall to suggest it's "public safety."

Over +10 years, we've represented clients who were homeless and couldn't...
get into housing often because they were targeted and punished for being poor and unhoused. They'd been cussed out, beaten unconscious, arrested and threatened with being caged in the Workhouse, and generally abused by SLMPD, the courts, & the notoriously hellish Workhouse jail.
Those publicly financed & City supported actions never got our clients closer to feeling safe, respected, or that their basic needs were actually being met. People would be unhoused on the streets one day, get arrested, jailed and vanish for a few months, and then be right back
Read 9 tweets

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