Five hundred dollars would have gotten Sandra Bland out of jail before she died. She and at least four other black women have died in jail since mid-July. They died before going to trial, and before being convicted of any crime. Most could have left jail and gone home if they had enough money for bail.
According to Cherise Fanno Burdeen, head of the Pretrial Justice Institute, around six in ten inmates in the U.S. are unconvicted. They are simply awaiting trial, many for low-level charges, and many who would pose no risk if they were allowed to go free until their trial. Raynetta Turner was found dead in her Mount Vernon, New York jail cell after being arrested for shoplifting. Joyce Curnell was also arrested for shoplifting and put in the jail cell where she died. Kindra Chapman committed suicide in an Alabama prison after being arrested for stealing a cell phone. And Ralkina Jones died in the Cleveland Heights City Jail two days after being arrested for a physical dispute with her husband.
Like these five, most inmates who die in jail haven’t been convicted of a crime, and about half die within seven days of booking. Suicide is the leading cause of death.
The bail system causes black Americans to spend more time in jail before trial. Black defendants are assigned higher bail than white defendants for similar offenses. Black defendants are 66 percent more likely, and Latino defendants are 91 percent more likely to be held in jail (PDF) pretrial.
Most Americans are used to thinking of bail as a standard part of the justice system, even as it has directly contributed to the huge number of Americans imprisoned for minor offenses. But simply sending them home could be a more sensible option in most cases. Some local governments have moved toward a bail system that focuses on the defendant’s flight risk or danger to society rather than keep people in jail just because they can’t pay. These efforts could help keep cases like Bland’s from happening again.
