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It's not just Florida. You pay the bed fees even if found not guilty. Seems like a very cruel and efficient way to ruin someone financially considering that the
by phyzix5761 2y ago
It's not just Florida. You pay the bed fees even if found not guilty. Seems like a very cruel and efficient way to ruin someone financially considering that the average wait time before their first court date is one month. So, you're looking at at least $1500 for a crime you didn't even commit.
- notaustinpowers 2y agoThat's the Land of the Free™ for ya!
- arccy 2y agoLand of the Fee
- gambiting 2y ago....how can this possibly be legal? It's not like you wanted to be there. I have a hard time seeing how it can be justified for someone who is guilty, but I absolutely can't comprehend how you could charge fees from someone who is found innocent.
- lisper 2y ago> ....how can this possibly be legal? Because most of the people this happens to are black. (And the rest are white trash.)
- rqtwteye 2y ago"white trash" Gotta love the fact that derogatory terms are generally not ok these days unless it's poor white people.
- kevinventullo 2y agoThe point is to vilify and “other” people with less money to distract from the reality of the situation: class warfare.
- phyzix5761 2y agoI think its important to understand that you're never found innocent; only not guilty. The difference here is that you're not guilty given the evidence and arguments presented to the court vs you've been proven innocent. Secondly, the prison system in the US is meant to be one of vengeance and a continuation of slavery as clearly stated in the 13th amendment[1] rather than one of rehabilitation: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." [1] https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-13/ https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-13/
- ilikehurdles 2y agoPrisons serve many purposes and rehabilitation should be lowest priority of them, after incapacitation, deterrence, and retribution. Prisons are for society’s benefit, not for prisoners. If inmates can be rehabilitated, great, but all those other things are more important.
- 1992spacemovie 2y agoHey get outta here with your common sense hot take.
- pdpi 2y agoWhen people come out of prison, they need a bed to sleep on and food in their stomachs, and they will find those things one way or another. Absent the means to achieve those goals legally, the only alternative is returning to a life of crime. So, really, the choice is either rehabilitation or recidivism. Recidivism comes with a bunch of costs to society, so rehabilitation is ultimately for society's benefit. (I would argue that retribution has no place in the justice system, but that's a discussion for another day)
- korhojoa 2y agoThat, as a person from a nordic country, sounds like a very American take. At least over here, the point is to make the people be in a state where criminal behavior isn't desirable. Coming out of a sentence with debt (unrelated to the reason you were there) seems counterproductive.
- criddell 2y agoIt might not be legal. Has it been challenged in court yet?
- qingcharles 2y agoYes, many, many times. It has always been ruled legal by the higher courts. Even for pre-trial detainees who never even go to trial and who have been falsely accused.
- criddell 2y agoI looked for some cases in Florida but couldn't find any but I really don't know how to properly search for stuff like this. Any suggestions?
- ClarityJones 2y agoFla. Stat. § 939.06(1) "A defendant in a criminal prosecution who is acquitted or discharged is not liable for any costs or fees of the court or any ministerial office, or for any charge of subsistence while detained in custody." Edit: You can search scholar.google.com for "939.06" and find cases such as: Starkes v. State, 292 So.3d 826 (2020) wherein the 1st DCA issued a writ of mandamus commanding the trial court to certify the defendant's costs (so that they may be reimbursed).
- _DeadFred_ 2y agoAnd in the rare cases when someone wins they court will do an 'as applied' ruling, meaning only for this specific case and unable to be used as precedent in any other cases.
- qingcharles 2y agoThey're doing this with alarming regularity in the last decade. This used to be rarely used, but is now almost the norm.
- dmd 2y agoI had to pay hundreds of dollars in court fees after all shoplifting charges against me were dropped by the prosecutor when they noticed the person on camera was not, in fact, me, or anyone looking even remotely like me. The mall cop just grabbed the wrong person.
- gambiting 2y agoCan you sue the state for those charges back?
- ensignavenger 2y agoWhat jurisdiction are you in? Did you contact your elected representatives (if you have any)? Did you appeal the fees?
- 2y ago
- croes 2y agoWait until you learn about civil asset forfeiture. https://www.aclu.org/issues/criminal-law-reform/reforming-police/asset-forfeiture-abuse https://www.aclu.org/issues/criminal-law-reform/reforming-po...
- AlwaysRock 2y agoIt is legal because running on a platform of making life better for prisoners is a losing strategy. Voting to make the lives of prisoners better in any real way is writing an attack ad for your political opponent. Merica.
- meroes 2y agoThe incentives are perverse. Opening a prison in a small district can result in 75% of the population being prisoners, which counts towards census->congressional seats and for gerrymandered power. Some states somehow even keep you in the prison's district even after release, but I'm having trouble finding specific instances.
- dev1ycan 2y agoJust don't commit crimes.
- olyjohn 2y agoJust read the comment you replied to. You're charged if found not guilty.
- dev1ycan 2y agoYes I replied to the $1500 one but the thread specifies being found guilty and "sentenced to 5 years". I find it completely acceptable to charge an inmate money for his stay, people are against prison labor cause it makes it profitable for a state to have prisoners, which is true, but somehow the state has to recoup money it poured into an individual eating free and using public services without paying taxes for multiple years. You decided to commit the crime. Now, I am against you being charged pre-sentencing, unless you are found guilty, in which case you should be charged for that pre-time as well.
- nearlyepic 2y ago> which is true, but somehow the state has to recoup money it poured into an individual eating free and using public services without paying taxes for multiple years Please turn your business brain off. Society costs money to run - this is why we pay taxes. Your taxes routinely provide unpaid services to people because the benefits to society outweigh the costs.
- anigbrowl 2y agoIf you can't be bothered to read properly, don't reply.
- akira2501 2y agoJust hope the state never decides to mistakenly press charges against you.
- dheera 2y agoWhat happens if you just don't pay? For a couple thousand bucks are they really going to lawyer up and open another court case?
- ddtaylor 2y agoThey do not have to. They are the government and will garnish the income directly.
- lolinder 2y agoCan you provide a citation for this? Currently when I go looking for information on this your comment is the only result I can find that claims that this is possible for pre-trial jail terms. I see lots of references to it for people who are cleared years later, which is awful, but I want to make sure we're not mixing horrible facts and horrible fictions.