In the U.S, nearly all arrested people are required to pay cash bail in order to be released from jail before trial, yet more than 3 in 5 inmates remain behind bars, unconvicted, because they cannot afford to pay. This series, part of the #unconvicted photo exhibit, documents the plight of pretrial detainees, many of whom are locked up for weeks or months without being convicted of any crime because of the cash bail system, which penalizes the poor for their economic status.
The powerful images put a human face on what is largely a harmful and ineffective practice.
April O., St. Mary’s Adult Detention Center. Bail set at $4,000. Detained 70 days, then had all charges dismissed but one. Given time served.
“I do not have anybody here (in Leonardtown, MD). I am by myself. This is the third time my case has been put off, so I don’t know. I don’t know what is going on…Say for instance I get to walk out of here tomorrow, the first thing I am going to do is call Melissa at AA. She said she can help me get settled into a homeless shelter. And then I am going to go from there. I am going to see if I can go back to Burger King. Continue to stay in the shelter as long as I possibly can. Until I find a job. Because I do not want to leave knowing that I have court hanging over my head. I do not want to miss court. I do not want to have to go through all that. So I am going to do whatever I can do, whatever I have to do.
James W., St. Mary’s Adult Detention Center. Bail $3,000. Detained 36 days, case dropped after prosecutor declared nolle pros.
“I would love to be out and back working, helping my daughter take care of my grand kids, and everything else like that. But I am not going to depend on my family, you know, to be bailing me out of situations that I get my own self into. Because I am a grown man. I am not going nowhere. Besides the charge is not worth running from. It is better to take care of it than running away. I am 49, I’ll be 50 in November. I don’t have time to be running away and stuff like that.”
Julie C., St. Mary’s Adult Detention Center. Bail $3,500. Detained 80 days. One guilty misdemeanor drug possession, one nolle pros. Given 365 days with 285 suspended, 80 days credit for time served.
“My daughter is all that I have. And she just had a brand new baby. So I am a brand new grandma for the first time. So I would never ask her. She is only 23., she works at Ross, she don’t make that much money. So I did not want to put that burden on her. I thought I would be OK because I would be getting my money on the first. I would bond myself out on October 1st. I could sit here for two weeks, no problem. Wait, not no problem, but you know what I mean. And then I come to find out I lost my SSI (Supplemental Security Income) because of being incarcerated. I was like, really. Then I knew, I was stuck here until I went to court. That is my only source of income.”
Marcus R., St. Mary’s Adult Detention Center. Bail $20,000. Detained 178 days. One guilty misdemeanor weapon charge, one nolle pros. Given 365 days with 187 suspended and 178 time served credit. Marcus paid $1,000 to a bondsman for initial bail of $10,000 which was then upped to $20,000 and initial bond revoked. He still owes on the loan taken to pay the original $1,000.
“I am definitely going to be here for the holidays. It was supposed to be 60 days that they were supposed to evaluate me and get me back, then get me back to my attorney. And we are going into 60 already…I do not want the kids to come [to see me]. Not through a glass for like 15 mintues. That ain’t cool. It is like, by the time you sit down, I don’t know. And Kayla, the little one, she cries so I don’t want here to make her cry.”
Calvin W., Prince George’s County Detention Center. Bail $5,000. Detained 88 days. Calvin had outstanding charges in another jurisdiction. When this photo was taken, his case has been sent to jury trial, but online records indicated case was closed.
“If I don’t and probably won’t make bond, I will have to sit until my court date comes up. Right now, I’ve been taken into a medium security unit for theft. Medium security There are people that are faced with murder and I am here because of theft. Why? I have no clue. If the judge said plead guilty and I’ll give you time served, I would go. It would be more like, at least I can get on tot he next phase of what is going on.”
Khalif P. Bail $10,000. Detained 107 days, then prosecutor declared nolle pros.
“I cannot pay my bond. You can’t pay your bond because you are in jail so how can you get to your money? You have to ask one of those people on the outside to get to your money. It is up to them for how long it takes to get to your money. I observe people who come in here, two months, people put $100 in their commissary every week. But they can’t pay $500 bond. Five weeks at $100 is $500. You get commissary every week. It is not that you can’t pay the bond, it is most people, they would rather wait it out and get time served, get days credit.”
Bill L., Montgomery County Detention Center. Bail $7,500. Detained 40 days, nolle pros. Sentenced to 18 months, with 15 months suspended, with time served credit.
“It is an unfair system. You are innocent until proven guilty. No, they got it twisted. It is backwards. You are guilty until you are proven innocent. It isn’t just me. The average person won’t have the money unless you’re rich. The rich people have the cash. The poor man, no. For the poor man it’s totally unfair. $750 might as well be $10,000. Or might as well be $100,000. There are people in here with $100 bond who can’t get out.”
Brian N., Montgomery County Detention Center. Bail $2,500. Detained 48 days, sentenced to time served at 48 days. One guilty charge, all others nolle pros.
“After 2006 when I lost my job with the federal government, my life just went downhill. All my disorderly conduct changes are from intoxications. I have a substance abuse with alcohol. I need help. I need help with alcohol abuse. I would take the plea. To get out. I would take the plea.”
Lance C., Washington County Detention Center. Bail $3,500. Detained 88 days. Guilty, sentences to probation.
“I think I have been punished enough, for what, for well over what I did. I mean I did not hurt anybody. I hurt myself. If anything, that is what you should be int he hospital for, right? Not really in jail, giving the government money because I was stupid enough to hurt myself with an inhalant. That is what my charge is, nothing else. No one who lives middle class –and I live way below middle class–has money for unexpected expenses. For something like this, yeah, I made a mistake And it was dumb. I am not saying it is smart to do what I am doing. That is why I need rehab. To sit there and put me in jail and then make it impossible for me to get out.”
Toby S., Washington County Detention Center. Bail $100,000. Detained 70 days, sentenced to 5 years with 2 suspended. Given 106 days credit.
“There is a lot of difference [being in jail as a sentenced person]. Once you are sentenced, you know what you got to do. It is a lot easier to maintain in here, then to be on edge all day long. there is a lot that happens in the system where people get hurt, because people are on edge. When you don’t know what is going on with your life, it is a lot different when you do. I just did four years, and sitting in here for these next two months are going to be harder on me mentally than sitting in that jail for four years. Because I knew I had to do four years, there was nothing I could do. It was done. You know where you are going, you know when you are going to be home. You know what you got to do. Now I don’t know what is going to happen.
Matt F. Bail $500. Detained 58 days. Sentenced to 58 days time served, plus $500 fine.
“When you are living paycheck to paycheck, when you have a kid, when you are splitting rent with three other people, and you have expenses where you have to feed yourself and clothe yourself and keep yourself clean. It’s kind of tough.”
