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Link.
Not sure there's an "epidemic" as the author claims, but this does seem like a real problem when it happens, imo. Personally I think there needs to be some particular time frame involved, where an inmate is released automatically if there's no indictment before x amount of time has passed.
Thoughts?
There is an epidemic of individuals in the United States jailed for extended periods of time before they’ve been convicted of anything. Many of them are stuck behind bars because they can’t afford bail, in a system that in too many jurisdictions punishes defendants simply for being poor, not because they are considered at risk of fleeing pending trial.
But mostly, we at least assume that after a few days or a few weeks, if a jail is going to keep holding them, they are charged with something. Not so in Scott County, Mississippi, according to a new class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. Octavious Burks has been in jail for ten months on an arrest of attempted robbery with bail set at $30,000. But he has never been charged with anything. He has never been appointed a lawyer. And, by the account of the ACLU, he has twice before been held in jail for periods of 18 months and 16 months, before being released without ever having been convicted of anything.
Not sure there's an "epidemic" as the author claims, but this does seem like a real problem when it happens, imo. Personally I think there needs to be some particular time frame involved, where an inmate is released automatically if there's no indictment before x amount of time has passed.
Thoughts?