7 ms·

Just want to say thank you to OP for this offer! I'm homeless after ten years in pretrial detention simply because I couldn't get access to my money to bail mys

Just want to say thank you to OP for this offer! I'm homeless after ten years in pretrial detention simply because I couldn't get access to my money to bail myself out. By the time I got out everything was gone. I am doing fine though and am on the road to recovery. It's been a hard few weeks as all the food pantries I went to over the Thanksgiving holidays were closed, when you would expect them to be open, but my regular haunt was open again yesterday and another should be open tomorrow. I don't need anything though, I am (now) a man of extremely humble means. I wake up every morning alive and I have access to the Internet. What more does a nerd need? :D p.s. I do accept any coupons for free SaaS subscriptions anyone has spare. Literally any tiny bit of money I get goes on subs and a Hetzner three euro/month ARM server rental!

webspinner 3y ago
Uh huh? 10 years in pretrial detention is wayyy too long!! I do follow some trials, I have somewhat of a theoretical understanding of how things work. Who decided to waive that much time??? That's the question! Are they ever going to get to the trial sometime? Or will it be the longest delay of trial ever?
lazyasciiart 3y ago
That is infuriating to read about, let alone live through. Something around 80-90% of people in US jails are being held pre-trial, most of them with a cash bail option they can’t afford or like you, can’t arrange from jail. I encourage people to donate to organizations like The Bail Project or local bail funds, who are also usually strong advocates for ending cash bail and pre-trial detention policies, which function as a standard way to coerce guilty pleas and avoid trials. https://bailproject.org/ https://bailproject.org/ qingcharles: there are a number of resources available to help you with “re-entry”, and after ten years that seems important. Generally the best help comes from private nonprofits, but there are a lot of official options too (https://nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/ https://nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/). If you’d like any help connecting to groups in your area, feel free to ask, I can probably find some.
- qingcharles 3y ago
  The Bail Project people are amazing people and I love and adore everything they do. I kept in contact with them through the last couple of years of my incarceration. I just checked out that National Re-entry web site. Oh lord, as a web designer I just died a little inside. I tried searching for information and it just gave me pages of PDF internal reports about jail management etc. Literally nothing that would get me food or say, some winter boots. The problem I've got is that my immigration status was screwed by the incarceration and my SSN is currently invalid. I can't get any ID and I can't access any government services until it is restored. I'm supposed to be in immigration jail until my green card is reinstated, but I talked to an ICE agent and they say I am super low priority as long as I stay out of trouble they won't come after me.
  - lazyasciiart 3y ago
    Do you have a lawyer? I know several pro-bono immigration law groups that might be able to help regularize your status.
- one_more_time2 3y ago
  Illinois just took a huge step forward by eliminating cash bail. It hasn't had all the negative impacts that detractors predicted. I would think a libertarian-orientated place like HN would be in full support. This model should be copied across the country so people aren't unconstitutionally jailed before being convicted. Unfortunately, the discussion has been focused on politics as a Democratic legislature and Governor passed the law. https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-decreased-prison-sentences-data-illinois-services-20231203-d245i7z3gbd5bfskz7hky46f7a-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion...
gnulinux 3y ago
I'm really curious, how does that work? Can you not give a lawyer written permission to make certain financial decisions for you such as taking money off of a bank account? Or is it that you had to sell assets such as stocks etc for which you weren't allowed? Or is it that banks froze all your accounts because you're under detention? Or is it that it's not possible to give lawyers such financial permissions in the US?
- throwaway447 3y ago
  Thats hard and depends where the money is, it may even be abroad. My US bank did not even reply to inquires from my lawyer in Europe. I am recovering too. Soon, I got to war.
  - gnulinux 3y ago
    Can your European lawyer not find you a reliable US lawyer that then you meet in person (in prison) and give them legal authority to handle your financial affairs? But yeah I understand. Once you're dealing with multiple countries every financial/legal situation becomes much much harder.
- qingcharles 3y ago
  Yes, generally you can get a Power of Attorney to assign a lawyer to handle your affairs. One immediate problem with that is you need to find an attorney on contingency because you have no money to pay them a retainer. My bigger problem was that due to factors like immigration I had almost nothing in my own name, or my own name alone, and my wife and I were not seeing eye-to-eye.
quickthrower2 3y ago
WTF. Ten years locked up without trial, isn't that unconstitutional?
- webspinner 3y ago
  It generally would be considered unconstitutional, yes. When immigration status is thrown into the mix though, you never really know what can happen unfortunately. 10 years without trial is in fact a whole lot too long though!!
- Faaak 3y ago
  I really don't want to start a flamewar, but as a central european, this sounds crazy ! What is the reason for that ? I'd expect you to be released (well, maybe not for murders and such), and called for the trial when the time comes ?
  - throwaway447 3y ago
    I was in a EU prison. I have seen 5 years pretrial detentions with one guy. There is no rule of law. Me, they put for a month into solitary confinement under 24/7 video surveillance when I demanded to speak to the US embassy, since they did not believe me that I am a US citizen.
  - qingcharles 3y ago
    No, there were 92 people on bail for murder in my county at the same time I was locked up. They just had the $50K, $100K, $200K .. whatever the judge asked for to secure their release. There were people I was with doing months in jail because they couldn't come up with $50. I had a homeless cellmate with a $200 bond. I told him I'd get my wife to pay the damned thing, but in the end he managed to get all his homeless buddies to come down to the jail and give $10 or $20 each over three days until he had enough to get out. I won that case for him, he was only jailed because the local police chief was a piece of shit and put a false warrant out for him even though he had committed no crime.
  - pohuing 3y ago
    It's not as rare as we would wish unfortunately[1]. Though years is extreme. [1] https://www.dw.com/en/presumed-innocent-but-detained-for-months-pretrial-in-germany-and-eu/a-61983097 https://www.dw.com/en/presumed-innocent-but-detained-for-mon...
gigatexal 3y ago
I’ll spot you a a few months at Hetzner — I’ve no coupons will just spot you the cash. I like the company and am willing to help you out as well.
- gigatexal 3y ago
  email me!
  - qingcharles 3y ago
    Thank you! Will email you in the morning.. I need to un-base64 you :D
    - c0pium 3y ago
      Cyberchef has your back for all random text manipulation needs! https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/ https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/
    - gigatexal 3y ago
      echo "YWxleCBhdCBhbGV4YW5kYXJuYXJheWFuIGRvdCBjb20="|base64 -d
feydaykyn 3y ago
I rent a small bare metal OVH server which is not used a lot, I can host your projects/data, send me an email if interested.

webspinner 3y ago

Uh huh? 10 years in pretrial detention is wayyy too long!! I do follow some trials, I have somewhat of a theoretical understanding of how things work. Who decided to waive that much time??? That's the question! Are they ever going to get to the trial sometime? Or will it be the longest delay of trial ever?

lazyasciiart 3y ago

That is infuriating to read about, let alone live through. Something around 80-90% of people in US jails are being held pre-trial, most of them with a cash bail option they can’t afford or like you, can’t arrange from jail. I encourage people to donate to organizations like The Bail Project or local bail funds, who are also usually strong advocates for ending cash bail and pre-trial detention policies, which function as a standard way to coerce guilty pleas and avoid trials. https://bailproject.org/ https://bailproject.org/ qingcharles: there are a number of resources available to help you with “re-entry”, and after ten years that seems important. Generally the best help comes from private nonprofits, but there are a lot of official options too (https://nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/ https://nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/). If you’d like any help connecting to groups in your area, feel free to ask, I can probably find some.

qingcharles 3y ago
The Bail Project people are amazing people and I love and adore everything they do. I kept in contact with them through the last couple of years of my incarceration. I just checked out that National Re-entry web site. Oh lord, as a web designer I just died a little inside. I tried searching for information and it just gave me pages of PDF internal reports about jail management etc. Literally nothing that would get me food or say, some winter boots. The problem I've got is that my immigration status was screwed by the incarceration and my SSN is currently invalid. I can't get any ID and I can't access any government services until it is restored. I'm supposed to be in immigration jail until my green card is reinstated, but I talked to an ICE agent and they say I am super low priority as long as I stay out of trouble they won't come after me.
- lazyasciiart 3y ago
  Do you have a lawyer? I know several pro-bono immigration law groups that might be able to help regularize your status.
one_more_time2 3y ago
Illinois just took a huge step forward by eliminating cash bail. It hasn't had all the negative impacts that detractors predicted. I would think a libertarian-orientated place like HN would be in full support. This model should be copied across the country so people aren't unconstitutionally jailed before being convicted. Unfortunately, the discussion has been focused on politics as a Democratic legislature and Governor passed the law. https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-decreased-prison-sentences-data-illinois-services-20231203-d245i7z3gbd5bfskz7hky46f7a-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion...

gnulinux 3y ago

I'm really curious, how does that work? Can you not give a lawyer written permission to make certain financial decisions for you such as taking money off of a bank account? Or is it that you had to sell assets such as stocks etc for which you weren't allowed? Or is it that banks froze all your accounts because you're under detention? Or is it that it's not possible to give lawyers such financial permissions in the US?

throwaway447 3y ago
Thats hard and depends where the money is, it may even be abroad. My US bank did not even reply to inquires from my lawyer in Europe. I am recovering too. Soon, I got to war.
- gnulinux 3y ago
  Can your European lawyer not find you a reliable US lawyer that then you meet in person (in prison) and give them legal authority to handle your financial affairs? But yeah I understand. Once you're dealing with multiple countries every financial/legal situation becomes much much harder.
qingcharles 3y ago
Yes, generally you can get a Power of Attorney to assign a lawyer to handle your affairs. One immediate problem with that is you need to find an attorney on contingency because you have no money to pay them a retainer. My bigger problem was that due to factors like immigration I had almost nothing in my own name, or my own name alone, and my wife and I were not seeing eye-to-eye.

quickthrower2 3y ago

WTF. Ten years locked up without trial, isn't that unconstitutional?

webspinner 3y ago
It generally would be considered unconstitutional, yes. When immigration status is thrown into the mix though, you never really know what can happen unfortunately. 10 years without trial is in fact a whole lot too long though!!
Faaak 3y ago
I really don't want to start a flamewar, but as a central european, this sounds crazy ! What is the reason for that ? I'd expect you to be released (well, maybe not for murders and such), and called for the trial when the time comes ?
- throwaway447 3y ago
  I was in a EU prison. I have seen 5 years pretrial detentions with one guy. There is no rule of law. Me, they put for a month into solitary confinement under 24/7 video surveillance when I demanded to speak to the US embassy, since they did not believe me that I am a US citizen.
- qingcharles 3y ago
  No, there were 92 people on bail for murder in my county at the same time I was locked up. They just had the $50K, $100K, $200K .. whatever the judge asked for to secure their release. There were people I was with doing months in jail because they couldn't come up with $50. I had a homeless cellmate with a $200 bond. I told him I'd get my wife to pay the damned thing, but in the end he managed to get all his homeless buddies to come down to the jail and give $10 or $20 each over three days until he had enough to get out. I won that case for him, he was only jailed because the local police chief was a piece of shit and put a false warrant out for him even though he had committed no crime.
- pohuing 3y ago
  It's not as rare as we would wish unfortunately[1]. Though years is extreme. [1] https://www.dw.com/en/presumed-innocent-but-detained-for-months-pretrial-in-germany-and-eu/a-61983097 https://www.dw.com/en/presumed-innocent-but-detained-for-mon...

gigatexal 3y ago

I’ll spot you a a few months at Hetzner — I’ve no coupons will just spot you the cash. I like the company and am willing to help you out as well.

gigatexal 3y ago
email me!
- qingcharles 3y ago
  Thank you! Will email you in the morning.. I need to un-base64 you :D
  - c0pium 3y ago
    Cyberchef has your back for all random text manipulation needs! https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/ https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/
  - gigatexal 3y ago
    echo "YWxleCBhdCBhbGV4YW5kYXJuYXJheWFuIGRvdCBjb20="|base64 -d

feydaykyn 3y ago

I rent a small bare metal OVH server which is not used a lot, I can host your projects/data, send me an email if interested.