It's a problem, no doubt about it. What happened in NO was pretty strange, it's not likely to happen often, but that's no excuse. Also consider
that so much evidence was destroyed, so many witnesses displaced, and so few court workers/LEOs are available to handle the work, that most of the
people locked up just prior to Katrina/Rita are likely to stay that way for quite some time.
People have to remember that most folks in local lock-ups haven't been convicted, most are still awaiting trial, and some haven't even been charged!
There's no logical reason to hold them there, certainly not when it presents a danger to their safety. That's highly illegal, not to mention
immoral. You couldn't build a jail on an active volcano and just shrug everytime an inmate succumbs to the fumes or the lava - it's the
responsibility of the institution to protect its charges.
The cases that really steam me up are the ones where non-violent offenders are incarcerated while they await trial - often these folks end up doing
more time in jail than they could possibly cop in the sentence.
And what's even worse than that is when people are picked up as crucial witnesses, and made to sit in jail while the DA gets the case together. It
can be months..or years even, in rare cases. That's not justice...
There's no sense in using critical resources to chase after victimless crimes, like drug offenses. It's absolutely pointless, and it's a HUGE
drain on resources. Budget shortfalls are ubiquitous in American towns and cities, the last thing they need to be doing is wasting millions on stupid
crap like this.
Some links pertaining to the mess in NO, the ACLU report on the situation in the jail before, during, and after the storm, some info on the
possibility that prisoners will be freed if they don't get a court date, and the skeletal structure of a plan to remedy the backlogs :
jurist.law.pitt.edu...
tvnz.co.nz...
www.alertnet.org...
jurist.law.pitt.edu...
(Edited for clarity)
[edit on 11-8-2006 by WyrdeOne]
