Christina Spicer  |  June 17, 2019

Category: Jail / Prison

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St. Louis arrestees convinced a Missouri federal judge to certify their proposed Class in a lawsuit alleging innocent people are illegally kept in jail because they cannot afford bail.

Lead plaintiffs, David Dixon, Jeffery Rozelle, Aaron Thurman, and Richard Robards, each claim that they were forced to stay in a St. Louis jail because of unreasonably high bails set in their cases.

According to the St. Louis jail class action lawsuit filed earlier this year, hundreds are confined for long durations – up to years, in some cases – because they cannot afford to pay the “bail” amount.

Bail is a monetary amount set by a judge in a criminal case. Those accused of crimes who can pay their bail, or borrow money to do so, are released from jail until their trial is set. Those who cannot afford the bail amount set are required to stay in jail, irreparably damaging their lives, according to the St. Louis jail bail class action lawsuit.

The plaintiffs say those who cannot afford their bail and are disproportionately harmed by St. Louis’ jail policies are poor and black.

“This system inflicts devastating harm on people solely because of their poverty and violates the most fundamental of American axioms, that all people are equal under the law,” alleges the St. Louis jail bail class action lawsuit.

The plaintiffs also point out that those kept in confinement because they cannot afford to pay their bail have not yet been convicted of a crime.

“Every day in the City of St. Louis, presumptively innocent individuals remain in jail simply because they are too poor to pay for their freedom,” the class action lawsuit states.

The St. Louis jail bail class action lawsuit accuses the city, its sheriff, and its judges of denying presumptively innocent people of their Constitutional right to equal protection under the law.

“On average, 85% of individuals in St. Louis’ jail are incarcerated while awaiting their trial because they cannot afford monetary conditions of their bail,” say the plaintiffs, citing the St. Louis Department of Public Safety.

The plaintiffs in the St. Louis jail bail class action lawsuit were handed several wins by a Missouri federal judge who agreed to certify their proposed Class, grant their motion for an injunction, and deny St. Louis’ motion to dismiss the case.

U.S. District Court Judge Audrey G. Fleissig certified a Class of St. Louis arrestees who have or will be detained in one of the City’s jails, the Workhouse or CJC, because they cannot pay their bail.

The St. Louis jail class action plaintiffs also won an injunction, stopping the City from detaining arrestees who cannot pay their bail without a hearing to evaluate the need for their continued detention and their financial circumstances.

The lead plaintiffs and certified Class are represented by Blake A. Strode, Michael-John Voss, Jacqueline Kutnik-Bauder, Sima Atri, and John M. Waldron of ArchCity Defenders Inc., Thomas B. Harvey and Derecka Purnell of Advancement Project, Seth Wayne, Nicolas Riley, and Robert Friedman of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, and Alec Karakatsanis of the Civil Rights Corps.

The St. Louis Jail Bail Class Action Lawsuit is Dixon, et al. v. City of St. Louis, et al., Case No. 4:19-cv-00112-AGF, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division.

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