Jail Deaths Are a National Disgrace
And the problem is getting worse.
The infection and death rates have surpassed those of the general population.
Bail bond companies fight to protect their industry, while some civil rights groups worry the reforms won't actually reduce pretrial detentions.
This is what it looks like when you get the police involved in public health issues.
Gov. Greg Abbott made the change after a Dallas salon owner was jailed for reopening her salon.
Plus: "Karenology," failing fashion brands, and more...
If officials want to ease the burden of the pandemic behind bars, there are hundreds of thousands of inmates who can help them do it.
Judge Anne Marie Coyle has rejected every emergency attempt to reduce prison populations.
The Cook County jail is the country's largest known single source of new coronavirus infections.
New emergency rules attempt to slow down justice system to keep people apart.
Judges would be given additional leeway to order pretrial detentions.
Another 300 low-level offenders set to be released, but the city’s jails house more than 5,000.
Jail officials urge more and faster releases as the virus spreads between staff and inmates.
Overcrowded jails are ill-prepared for a coronavirus outbreak.
Police departments turn to summons instead of processing people into cells—a change they should keep after this is all over.
One man was arrested because he didn't have enough bus fare to make his court date.
Did Cook County overdo it and let too many dangerous defendants free?
ACLU argues the practice violates the Eighth Amendment.
Body camera videos show a woman being tased into compliance after being placed on suicide watch.
Reformers worry that district attorneys will subvert new rules, but prosecutors worry about those who refuse to show up for court.
The 7th Circuit said the guard is protected by qualified immunity.
The end of political privacy and the politicization of everything
The inmate's death is the most recent in a string of fatalities at the Bexar County Jail.
It's not illegal for inmates to have marijuana, but it's still a felony if they try to smoke it.
People charged—but not convicted—of crimes often have to wait weeks to see a judge if they’re too poor to pay for their freedom.
The jail, which saw several deaths, was overseen by former Sheriff David Clarke at the time.
"What started out as a clerical error magnified into a very regrettable and Kafkaesque mistake."
Failed drug tests can send people on probation or parole back into prison cells.
Magistrates don’t care whether defendants can pay, leaving the indigent stuck in jail before they’re ever convicted.
New Jersey is detaining almost half as many people pretrial, and the state is not seeing a big crime wave.
Justices leave intact a ruling allowing detention for 48 hours of those who cannot immediately pay for their release.
Conservative majority declines to consider constitutional concerns of holding noncitizens without hearings.
It's encouraging to see police stand up for inmates' rights.
A bill to stop the dangerous practice reaches the next step.
Magistrates are supposed to consider the financial concerns of people who come before them. Instead they're tossing them behind bars.
Very high cash demands disrupt defendants' lives without improving public safety.
Defendants aren't being ordered to pay for their freedom, and they're still coming back for court appearances.
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