"Two men were released after The Times asked about them, half a year after their sentences had been completed."
Horrific. This egregious human rights violation is something you'd think you read about in a developing nation, not a developed nation.
Merely "fails"? That sounds like apologetic underemphasis to me, like so many other Times stories. The system described is more like active oppression.
Tarrant County is just as bad and Sheriff Bill Waybourn takes pride in an attitude of sadism coated under a veneer of Christianity…it’s a fatal place for some…part of my series on my first hand experience being charged with a felony I didn’t commit to satisfy Sheriff Bill’s ego:
https://samhenrycliff.medium.com/tarrant-county-sheriff-bill...
This is interesting, from the article it seems that authorities broken the law multiple times
"[...] people regularly spend months behind bars without charges filed against them, much longer than state law allows."
In such a litigious society like the one in the USA, what stops convicts from hiring the lawyer and suing authorities, there are many lawyers who would gladly work for success fee, if indeed the law was broken and they can expect an easy win for a huge amount that people get in US courts because, say, they spilled hot coffee on their laps and it turned out the coffee is hot?
It is not uncommon in certain rural Louisiana towns to have the local sheriffs/police make up some traffic offense and have you sit in the local jail for a weekend because the judge isn't going to show up until Monday if they don't like you being around there as an outsider/activist.
Gift link: https://nyti.ms/421I5Ox
We do not know why you are in jail, but because you are in jail you must have done something bad. We cannot just let bad people roam freely
Fun fact: In Texas, ALL traffic offenses (except for speeding and open container) are considered arrestable offenses. It's up to the discretion of the officer whether he writes you a ticket or hauls you off to jail.
Standing out in any way in a small, socially conservative community can have some pretty terrible consequences.
Something I’ve joked about but also kind of depended on in my life: most, but not all, problems go away if you throw enough money at it.
For the last nine years, I’ve aggressively saved money because I don’t ever want to be in a situation where I cannot buy my way out of a problem. Cynical? Absolutely, but I live in the US.
I think this is terrible, but just because I don’t like it doesn’t change the fact that this is how it is at least for now.
We are just a bit over 200 years old, give them a bit more time, the lawyers are tirelessly working to make the court system faster, cheaper, and have better outcomes they just need a bit more time.
Any day now...any day...
Could any attorneys comment on why habeas corpus actions aren't used here. Isn't this sort of thing exactly what habeas is for?
I feel that nolo contendre [No Contest] is underrated, and Imma keep leaning on its elegant simplicity.
I'm surprised the article does not mention that there is a privately operated jail in the county.
Would anyone know how we, the American public, can push for reform? Illegal immigration and social issue flag waving is in every press release but we need to demand and hold accountable lawmakers and enforcers.
America's ability to fail its citizens is truly limitless
Given all the facts it's crazy that non-urban areas of the US are so backwards and terrible.
I feel that there isn't enough of a focus on class issues in the US because that's what this is- a lot of the people involved are non-white democrats, and it's not an issue of improper/racist decisions per se- it's just literal incompetence and lack of care for anyone without resources to stand up for themselves.
At least in urban areas there are some (probably upperclass) people willing to work on the most egregious human rights violations in the court system.
In some town in Texas no one is around to advocate for your most basic rights.
The purpose of a system is what it does.
Texas is not known as a bastion of civil rights.
Better non-profit source without paywalls and tracking free: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/25/texas-jail-lawyer-ma...
This sounds just like the kind of thing that the federal government in a robust constitutional democracy could involve themselves with. Oh wait.
I’m sure this can be solved with voting and protesting lol
now imagine how bad things are for black people
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There's a major bias by outlets like the NYT to paint red states in a bad light. In reality, the worst state in the country for lacking public defenders is Oregon.
You're telling me the country that illegally spies on all of us online and provides corrupt pi.. cops with qualified immunity doesn't abide by the U.S. Constitution? Say it ain't so..
Of course big corp media like NYT would report on injustices in red states, especially Texas.
Next door to NYT in the deep blue state of Massachusetts, two men have been arrested for simple trespass even though they had valid active IDs. Cops simply took the ID and left it out of police report, and never turned it over to the DA or the defense as exculpatory evidence. All with complete impunity and re-arrested them half a dozen times again repeating the same exact way!
You'd think where gay marriage was first legalized (and has a lesbian governor), plenty lawyers would take such cases. They've had to go through six lawyers because they refused plea bargain deals so that the dirty cops would have to testify under oath. But the corrupt DA dropped each and every charge on the days of trials, to save the cops from perjury; but not until after nearly two years of fake and phony court hearings to make sure these two lose their jobs or give up their rights.
You'll never read their story on the front page of NYT or any other big corp media because it happened right at the heart of Massachusetts in Cambridge/Boston on the precious private property of an elite university.
Anyone who has ever dealt with the US justice system as just some regular bloke knows it is broken. 90% of it is about extorting the population for funding for the courts and cops. If you can't afford a lawyer, they will provide you with a joke. And if you can afford a lawyer, now its just a question if you are willing to spend more on your lawyer than the state is hoping to extort from you. If you are, you will get off no problem, if you aren't or can't, most courts are going to try and screw you over. Oh whats that, you want to actually fight your charges in court? Now you better not lose because you are on the hook for all of the money the court wants to believe it cost them to prosecute you. Oh you don't want to risk that and just settle for whatever minor fine the law says you might owe? Don't worry, the courts will still fuck you with the addition in mandatory minimum court fees, additional fees and fines not stipulated under the law you broke, inflated "programs" that they get kickbacks from, and an even better excuse for cops in the future to try and screw you over by painting you as some wanton criminal.
Just like healthcare, US justice is only for people with money.