St. Louis bail disruptor Tracy Stanton penned a powerful op–ed for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sharing her personal experience at the inhumane Workhouse jail.
The Bail Project’s statewide advocacy and policy manager Mike Milton wrote an op–ed for the St. Louis American on the critical need to address the systemic issues of poverty, institutional racism and public health inequities which drive so many into the criminal legal system.
Our state regional coordinator in Michigan writes, “Certain moments define a society and its leaders. And this is one of them. Unless St. Louis city and county officials take action now, this pandemic will create a humanitarian disaster in our jails, putting lives at risk.“
There is a better way: treat people like individuals rather than statistical “risk scores” and focus on disrupting the cycles of poverty and vulnerability that keep so many trapped in the revolving door of mass incarceration.
Under The Arch, a podcast put out by our friends at ArchCity Defenders and Action St. Louis, sat down with The Bail Project’s Mike Milton and former TBP director of strategic partnerships Thomas Harvey to talk about pretrial incarceration in the city.
When 19-year-old Daehaun White was released from jail in St. Louis, he was so overjoyed that he forgot to check in with a representative for the company EMASS, which straps black boxes with GPS monitoring onto the ankles of people on pretrial release.
Soon, White’s arrest on minor charges spiraled into a debt exceeding $800, all owed to a company that charges defendants $10 a day plus other excessive fees. The city of St. Louis offers defendants no hearing to determine whether they can pay fees for such onerous surveillance.
A federal judge ruled last week that St. Louis jails – including the infamous Workhouse where over 90% of people are detained pretrial – can’t incarcerate people simply because they can’t pay bail. The judge cited data from our St. Louis site in ruling that: “There is no evidence that financial conditions of release are more effective than alternatives for ensuring court appearance and public safety.” However, as of now, St. Louis courts are holding up new bail hearings for people entitled to them.
Summarized by Jacob Koffler
