Stone Walls and Steel Bars

By Michael Caruso

Yesterday, David mentioned a new report which describes a “federal jailing crisis” that disproportionately impacts poor people of color. The report was authored and researched by Prof. Alison Siegler and a team of her clinic students at the University of Chicago Law School. The report, Freedom Denied: How the Culture of Detention Created a Federal Jailing Crisis, drew upon two years of court-watching and interviews. Prof. Siegler included our district in her study.

Here are a few of Prof. Siegler's key findings:

"Federal judges regularly disregard the law that protects against a person being jailed due to their inability to pay bail, directly impacting people of color and people from low-income backgrounds."

"Federal judges regularly disregard the legal requirement to ensure that anyone who cannot afford a lawyer is represented by court-appointed counsel during their initial appearance hearing."

"Federal judges often overlook legal requirements at initial bail hearings, leading to unlawful detention."

"Federal judges routinely misapply the “presumption of detention” statute that applies in drug cases, improperly treating it as a mandate for jailing and fueling racial disparities."

Prof. Siegler's findings demand that we address and correct these systemic issues in our criminal legal system. Addressing these issues becomes more pressing when coupled with research that suggests pretrial detention leads to worse outcomes for the people in jail—both in their court cases and in their lives—compared with similarly situated people who are able to secure pretrial release.  

The Vera Institute, for example, has noted research dating back to the 1950s and 1960s has established a connection between pretrial detention and the likelihood of being convicted and sentenced to incarceration. This research suggests that pretrial detention, even for a relatively small number of days, may have negative implications for court appearances, conviction, sentencing, and future involvement with the criminal legal system.

Hopefully, Prof. Siegler's work, and the work of others,  will kickstart a national and local conversation about these issues. I hope the Court, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Pretrial Services Office, the FPD, the criminal defense bar, and the impacted community can collaborate and move forward. No one group is responsible or blameless for this crisis.