Lost in the System | Fault Lines
89,210
Published 2017-05-15
Many are locked up only because they are too poor to afford bail. They are legally innocent, but find themselves waiting for their day in court behind bars.
In the meantime, they are separated from their families, may lose their jobs or their homes, experience the trauma of incarceration, incur debts, and may plead guilty - even when innocent - just to get out of jail.
With nearly 12 million jail admissions a year, courts are backlogged and public defender systems across the country are overloaded.
Fault Lines travels to New York, Mississippi and California to investigate pretrial justice at the county level and incarceration before conviction.
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All Comments (21)
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The public defender is very compassionate - touching to see.
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"The criminal system is a system of criminals " does he mean ran by criminals
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I had recently watched a video on the North Korean judicial system, after which I commented that the moral of the story would be to never travel to a country in which one's human rights were not guaranteed. Accordingly, I will never travel to Mississippi.
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What a big business this is
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sick system in a sick Land
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The legal system preys on the poor. The purpose of the legal system is to destroy the lives of the accused. I have been stopped by the cops a few times. In one instance I was stopped because I ,”matched,” the description of a robbery suspect. I was held on the street until the store clerk came by. The situation was totally absurd. I was a college graduate with a full time job. I struck up a conversation with the cop and told him about my self. By the clerk , who looked like she was 100 years old arrived , the cop was convinced that I wasn’t the robber. He essentially told the clerk that I wasn’t the guy. I will never forget that episode. I have since completed graduate school, gotten married, had children and enjoyed an ok life. Things could have turned out a lot differently.
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Jailing people is a business in America
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JUST LIKE "INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY" IT SEEMS "GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT"
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Spending 5 yrs in pre-trial lockup is in itself a crime, unacceptable!
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Disgraceful
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I bet when each and every one of the cases of those detained is truly critiqued, it would be amazing as to the number of truly innocent people there are who are locked up in this country, lost in the system.
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@12:49 Judge Gordon Grand Dragon The old man from Poltergeist Beezelbub Satan The Devil
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12,000,000 WOW!!! Scary.
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To much money to be made on imprisonment, never going to end.
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All they have to do is Request on paper a Writ of Habeas Corpus. That's it. The request need not be in any particular form, but should include: -The person being held, and the place holding him. -The cause or pretense of such imprisonment or restraint. I, Sharon Jones of 22 L st, atlanta, GA request a Writ of Habeas Corpus for Richard Jones of 22 L st, atlanta, GA, being held at Atlanta courthouse at 123 atlanta ave, for the pretense of car theft. The court which the complaint is made should, without delay, award and issue the Writ of Habeas Corpus and the Sheriff must execute the same. ANYONE can do this for ANYONE. Hand it to the sheriff and he MUST by duty find an available judge to see the case NOW no matter how long it takes him to find a judge, one will be available! It is THEIR DUTY AS A JUDGE. A Writ of Habeas Corpus IS a PROTECTED AMERICAN RIGHT. It means, GIVE ME THE BODY. They must get the case AS IS viewed by a judge to see if they have something on you NOW and find out what the charge is and either make it happen or GIVE UP THE BODY. OTHERWISE IT'S ILLEGAL KIDNAPPING! PLAIN AND SIMPLE. Look up the book The Political, Personal, and Property Rights of a Citizen of the United States by Theophilus Parsons. The reason the Writ of Habeas Corpus was included in the Constitution by our Wonderful Founding Fathers is because England and France were taking people for this reason or that and straight imprisoning them never to be seen or heard from ever again and the people finally had enough of their family disappearing. What we see today (500,000 people arrested waiting trials) is what happens when you don't teach people their RIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!
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Any lawyer carrying over 300 open cases is going to be hard pressed to give 100%to each case. And since any forensic or additional tests for the defendant in a pro-bono case must have approval of the costs for payment , it becomes a matter of the families helping with some of the costs or the testing can’t be done. Most people are unaware of the costs involved with these special tests and think that they can request them for free because they aren’t having to pay the lawyers.
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Im 50 yrs old....they arrested me 2 days b4 my 21st birthday.....and have been living in the PA Penal system for 30yrs..... I stay home and ONLY smoke pot and run a full time construction business....They just Raided my home, yet again, and now im facing 15-30yrs....may as well b my life, at this age...all because i smoke pot....smh !
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Want an easy way to drastically reduce your chances of going to jail or prison? Don't break the law! Parents need to talk to their kids about obeying the law. Almost every jail & many prisons will give them a free tour of your kids think jail is nothing. Not just Scared Straight programs. Even individual tours if parents aren't getting through to kids. Don't wait until it's to late.
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This makes my blood boil because I myself have experienced the court system.
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People in hardship which the government should be shamed for, over getting a crum shouldn't be locked up; violent animals behaviour should be locked up and domesticated.🐂
