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I’d also like anyone who promotes harsher punishments to actually go through the system for just a day before they insist on locking others into it. Getting ar

I’d also like anyone who promotes harsher punishments to actually go through the system for just a day before they insist on locking others into it. Getting arrested permanently changed my view on our justice system. It was a nonviolent offense, related to a paperwork issue, but it resulted in a bench warrant being issued for me. If I hadn’t just received several thousand dollars in my account from an unexpected windfall, I would not have been able to pay the jail fees. Not fines for the ticket - which was completely dropped - the jail fees for simply being arrested. The total out the door cost to get arrested was north of $2100 for me. You can beat the case, but you can’t beat the ride.

jevoten 5y ago
How are jail fees not illegal extra-judicial punishment?
- shakezula 5y ago
  :shrugs: I’m honestly not sure. Between the bail system and privately owned jails, the entire system seems designed to exploit the most vulnerable members of society.
  - iJohnDoe 5y ago
    > designed to exploit the most vulnerable members of society. Full stop there. No other explanation really needed.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > How are jail fees not illegal extra-judicial punishment The argument is that they are in law (so not illegal) and compensatory rather than punitive (so not punishment.) This is contentious, though, and jails have sometimes lost legal cases around them, e.g.: https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2021/11/03/ruling-issued-on-case-involving-fees-for-kentucky-inmates https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2021/11/03/ruli... The main reason for them, of course, is that while mass incarceration policies are popular with those bit subjected to them, paying for mass incarceration is not.