‘Paying ransom for freedom’: How cash bail is keeping Black mothers stuck in prisons

NBC News ^ | February 13, 2022 | By Randi Richardson

[Oldeconomybuyer]

In December, JaCari Letchaw’s dog wandered to a neighbor’s house, where it gave birth to puppies. Letchaw says when she tried to retrieve her dog and the puppies, a dispute broke out over who was the rightful owner of the puppies. She walked away, but later that night the Black single mother of five was arrested and eventually sent to Jefferson County’s jail in Birmingham, Alabama.

Her bail was set at $60,000 for a first-degree robbery charge. It was far more than she could afford; her most recent job had paid only $14 an hour. The monetary difference meant Letchaw would have to wait in jail until her trial started — which could be months away.

Most women in jails are like Letchaw: Black, single mothers or only incarcerated because they can’t afford to post bail. Of the more than 115,000 women in jails in the U.S., more than 60 percent haven’t been convicted of a crime, but are incarcerated while awaiting trial because they can’t make bail, according to the Sentencing Project. Forty-four percent of women in jail are Black, and 80 percent of women are single mothers or primary caregivers for their children, according to a 2016 report by Vera Institute of Justice.

These disparities are among the many reasons why advocates say the cash bail system is long overdue for reform, if not abolishment.

Letchaw’s oldest son, who was with her during the neighborhood dispute, was also arrested and is currently in jail because the family can't afford to post his $90,000 bail.

[BBB333]

HUUUUUGE bail for an - implied - small crime.

More to this story for sure...

[Sans-Culotte]

There must be more to this story.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Take a look at NYC these days for what happens when you eliminate cash bail.

[PGR88]

JaCari Letchaw’s dog wandered to a neighbor’s house, where it gave birth to puppies. Letchaw says when she tried to retrieve her dog and the puppies, a dispute broke out over who was the rightful owner of the puppies.

That's a ghetto problem if I ever heard one.

[bert]

Black mothers are actually bastard makers

Grand mothers look after the bastard cousins

[MrRelevant]

Most black women in jail are like her? Not likely. If there’s not more to the story which there most likely is…. This is the exception not the rule.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Maybe more to the story. Who knows? Some people do get caught up in what should have been a minor thing and somehow things snowball. Someone who commits a minor offense gets crushed while career criminals get away with a lot because that is the progressive ideology.

[BillyBonebrake]

Boo frikkin hoo.

[PGR88]

There must be more to this story.

We live in a society and political system of corporate media/tech dominance, top-down ideological control, and thus widespread gaslighting and spin - OF COURSE there was more to this story.

http://birminghamjailsearch.birminghamal.gov/NewWorld.InmateInquiry/AL0010200/Inmate/Detail/-1088372

A quick look on the internet indicates, assuming there is not another woman of the same name in Birmingham jail, indicates she was booked on a second-degree felony, of robbery, first degree assault, while using a gun.

[StAnDeliver]

Now look at who got her out...

"Cara McClure is the Founder of Faith & Works Collective. Following George Zimmerman’s verdict in the Trayvon Martin murder trial, Cara McClure co-founded the Birmingham Chapter of Black Lives Matter. As the chapter grew, Cara participated in a pilot by the Department of Justice to build trust between police and marginalized community members.

Cara worked on Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign and locally with voter engagement and political education.

With all this experience under her belt, Cara decided to run as the Democratic Party candidate for Public Service Commission Place 1, a role that would significantly change the lives of lower-income Alabamians by influencing the ways that utilities are priced and administered in the state."

She lost bigly lol.

Scratch a BLM mendicant and find a well-trained beggar!

[cnsmom]

Sounds like a job VP Harris could handle and a great pre election narrative for Democrats.

[griswold3]

General agreement that there’s more to this story.

[entropy12]

You nailed it.

[griswold3]

Have you ever seen a Communitarian that wasn’t a grifter? They always advocate for others’ property and talent to be offered for free. Not a mutually beneficial transaction. For the Common Good of course,

[KarlInOhio]

Letchaw says when she tried to retrieve her dog and the puppies, a dispute broke out over who was the rightful owner of the puppies. She walked away, but later that night the Black single mother of five was arrested and eventually sent to Jefferson County’s jail in Birmingham, Alabama.

Her bail was set at $60,000 for a first-degree robbery charge.

Perhaps there is a little to this story that's missing?

[zeestephen]

$14 an hour in Alabama is like $20 an hour in Seattle, and with five kids, her entire family is eligible for Medicaid, and at least $1,000 a month in food stamps and free school meals, plus cash assistance, plus the Earned Income Tax Credit, and rent assistance (after a few years on a wait list).

Not a fun life, but not an impoverished life, either.

Also, if she could raise $6,000, a bail bondsman would insure the other $54,000, unless she has jumped bail in the past.

80% of Republicans have no clue about the scale of welfare that is available to America's low income citizens.

[Jewbacca]

Keeps all sorts of criminals in prison.

White, black, whatever.

[heartwood]

In December, JaCari Letchaw’s dog wandered to a neighbor’s house, where it gave birth to puppies.

Many women committing crimes are pretty careless about their maternal responsibilities. The writer must have looked for a while to find a case that could be presented this innocuously.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Yep. I would guess that there is an assault charge of some sort in with that somewhere.