The Rice Street Jail

The Rice Street Jail #lawyer #court #law #personalinjurylawyer #attorney

[Arlington]

If the time they spend in jail waiting for a court date is more than the maximum sentence they should be allowed to leave

[emeraldnickel]

Fact of the day: several founding fathers predicted that the American legal system would benefit those with money, and could be used to punish those without it. They predicted that all the way back then. Nothing’s changed this fault since.

[edl]

Also results in a ton of false guilty pleas. Plead guilty today and you will get time served or wait 3 months for a trial.

[growingspiral]

It happened to me when I was 19. I did 211 days in jail and was finally offered a plea bargain for a 90 day sentence. I could have 100% beat the case but it would have required me staying in jail until I could have a trial which would have taken much much longer. It was revealed in a motion to suppress hearing that the lead detective committed perjury on the telephonic search warrant they used but the judge gave us plea bargains instead of throwing the case out. I ended up pleading guilty to one of the charges I wasn't guilty of just to get out of jail asap. It was an extremely traumatic life event for me. It changed me for sure.

[dge]

true. I work at a county jail and over half of our population has a bond of $500 or less. Some as low as $50. One person in particular has a bond of $100 & he's been here for 78 days...

[danielwoltz]

So much for constitutional rights and equal protection under the law.

[kushal]

A fee is only a punishment for the poor
Bail or bond should also take income of the accused in account

[katesirota]

Not many people of means or privilege speak out about this. I so respect your advocacy for these issues which comes down to preying on and profiting from vulnerable people which is done a lot in this country without a single ounce of compassion. Thank you.

[BlackninjahLover]

Exactly. People will always say those in jail are only criminals and have no empathy whatsoever. Even those in jail deserve rights and justice.

[BiggE]

I got a DUI back in 2010. I happen to know the county sheriff on a personal level so I called and asked for his advice. He gave me the number of an attorney, who used to be the county DA at one time. I met with him and paid him the required dump truck load of money. I sat on my court date and watched so many people with the exact same offense as me get the book thrown at them. None of them had private legal counsel. When it was my turn, my attorney walked over and whispered to the DA and they presented the judge with their pretrial agreement which basically gave me something called a diversion plan. I served my one year of probation, paid my fines, did my community service, and had everything wiped off my record like it never happened. Thankfully, I could afford this Attorney. Because I watched so many people with the same offense get hammered with jail time and crazy fines of which I got neither because I could afford an attorney. We have a “class” issue in this country when it comes to our legal system. Those who have money can get away with more than those who have no money.

[silverjuly]

So, 90% of ppl in jail, can potentially be part of America's workforce, but they are stuck in a place where they can't get out?

[C-ne]

Well. That sounds like an overpayment of punishment to me. Sounds like the city should reimburse the inmates for every month they served beyond what they owe.

I’m sure that would lower bonds and expedite the processes

[saraaaf]

Not only is it a punishment for the poor but it's an arbitrary punishment at that. My husband got stopped for a weed pen which is illegal where we stay. He was booked and received $10, 000 bond (for those who've never gone through the process you pay 10% of that number to get them out so I paid $1000 for his bond) The week before, another guy got arrested for literally the exact same thing as my husband and his bond was half the amount only $5, 000 so he paid 500 to get out. Same crime, same city, same judge, only difference was the judges mood that day. I hate our legal system. It's not designed to improve/protect the community, it's there's to serve as a piggy bank.

[BUTCHERIHS]

A lot of people in the comments blaming people for being in jail forget you can be innocent and be arrested, you can be the victim and still be arrested, hell you could call the police to come help you and still be arrested.

[tokboiam]

seems intentional, especially with the private prison contracts(cca)

[simasimson]

Shouldn't you be allowed to sue the state, country, court, police department, whatever if you sit 6 months instead of 30 days? I guess that would change things quite a bit

[sane_scientist]

just make it cost the state $500 in compensation for every day they spend in jail past their actual sentence. this problem will disappear over night

[musabawad]

Having the solution for leaving jail be money is literally just saying if your rich your good, otherwise your here forever. Crazy

[MisterJackTheAttack]

Gotta keep those prisons full according to those contracts. Privatization of the prison system is such a conflict of interest.

[obviouslytom]

What you described is known as debtors jail and it is illegal in the US. So really, there could be a massive class action lawsuit that no city would be able to afford