Low bail + poor inmates = A crowded, expensive jail
posted: December 17, 2007 | category: homelessness
tags: crime
A friend is in jail. His bail amount is $25.00. He doesn’t have the money to pay it. So he’ll sit in jail for the next 39 days, until his court appearance. It costs Guilford County somewhere around $60-$70 per day to house an inmate. Because my friend doesn’t have $25.00 for bail, the county (and taxpayers) will spend close to $3000 to house him in the already overcrowded jail.
I met him several years ago, when he was homeless. Chronically homeless. He now has a disability check and federally-funded housing. He has health issues that contributed to his homelessness, and more recently, he suffered a traumatic brain injury.
He’s in jail on a charge of Failure to Appear. He missed his court date. This is not unexpected. People with traumatic brain injury usually have serious memory problems. During most of the years that I’ve known him, my friend would always ask about my children (by name) whenever I saw him,and he’d politely ask for updates on events in my life. But since his brain injury, I have to tell him my name each time I see him, and remind him of who I am.
I’m not suggesting that there shouldn’t be a penalty for failing to appear for a court date. But I think that my friend’s story suggests that there may be a problem with the system.
P.S. This story will most likely have a good ending for my friend. In order to protect his housing voucher and disability benefits, some other friends are arranging to pay his bail and get him out of jail. They’ll also help to make sure that he makes his January court date. But there are others in the jail with low bail amounts that they can’t pay. And many of them will be still be sitting in jail until their court dates — with the taxpayer-funded meter running.
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Dear Lord. What a mess we are in in this city, country, country! Is there no common sense anywhere? BB
Actually, yes! Read this post.