I have long known that the justice system isn’t as swift or just for poor people, and this week I got to deal with that reality firsthand. I’ll tell the story, and I’ll try not to divulge who the persons involved are, however, I know that they won’t mind the story being shared in a general way. It was eye-opening for all of us. Some of this story is just bad luck, while some of it is indicative of the challenges of enforcing black and white laws in a world of gray. Regardless, it highlighted for me the shortcomings and the inequality of a system that responds so readily to who you know and how much money you have.

So here’s how the story starts. A husband and wife are stopped for a “routine” reason, an expired tag on a truck. I know this is routine, because it happened to us about a month ago. As a quick sidebar, our situation was related to a mistake at the local tax office when registering our new car – a mistake we knew nothing about until Donna was pulled over. She was threatened with arrest, despite presenting an insurance card and registration for our car. It was a unique anomaly that the officer, his supervisor, our insurance agent, our insurance company, and the dealer who registered our car, had never come across. It turned out ok, and no one got arrested, but my lovely wife almost went to jail (literally) for something she could not have prevented. I am aware the officers were doing their job, and while they were gruff and skeptical early on, they eventually became nicer (I won’t say nice) and acted reasonably, despite the letter of the law. At the end of that long day, after a host of phone calls, faxes, and emails, things were fine, but I had a glimpse then of how people who haven’t knowingly done anything wrong can get in some real trouble.

So, back to this reasonable traffic stop for an expired tag. The husband was driving, and was, in fact, driving illegally on an expired license. He broke the law. Twice. He knew better. The officers were going to take him into custody for both violations and they told the wife that she could take the truck with her, (instead of having it impounded), as long as she had a valid Georgia driver’s license. She presented her valid and up-to-date license, expecting to get it back and drive off. Instead, the officer came back and took her into custody for a “Failure to Appear” (FTA) misdemeanor, which she didn’t know anything about. When they told her the date – from 2001! – she remembered a traffic violation she thought was taken care of. Unfortunately, she had been required to show up in court and never did. 

Ok, so that’s probably an honest mistake. In talking to folks about this case this week, I have found out it’s not all that uncommon for such things to be unclear or poorly communicated.   But that didn’t matter. She was in jail. I got a call on my voicemail at church on Saturday, which I didn’t hear until Sunday, asking for assistance. I was able to confirm that she was still in custody, and that she would not be granted bond (bail) until she had reappeared before a judge. Her husband did have bond available, so I bailed him out. I then started to call around to find out how to help the wife.

I’ll shorten some of the drama of a day full of phone calls, but let me say that I spoke to the County Sherriff’s office, where she was being held, the County Solicitor General’s Office, a bail bondsman, three different attorneys; four, if you include a seminary classmate who is a rector in the County in Question. He, in turn, spoke with an attorney and a retired judge in that County who attends his congregation. I spoke to two other priests, including my classmate’s associate, who did get into the jail to visit this person (this all happened hours away from St. Simons). It was a lot of time, phone calls, and effort. I will say that everyone serving in an official capacity was very nice. The Sherriff’s Office gave me good information, as did the Solicitor General’s Office, for which I am very grateful. This is not a story about how law enforcement and the court system is full of uncaring people. This is not about how any of them did anything other than their duty. On the contrary, they were respectful, honest, and empathetic. They are used to the system and its foibles, and those who are trying to help. It is the system, the ever so impersonal and overburdened system, that presented the challenges.  

In all my calls, what I found out is that this woman, who has never been in jail for any reason, ever, might have to stay in jail up to a month before she could be given an opportunity to get in front of a judge to deal with the FTA. It’s just the how scheduling works. UNLESS, we could hire a private attorney who could file a motion to get her on the jail calendar sooner. That means making an appearance in front of a judge via remote television connection. The defendant’s lawyer is in the court room with the judge, and the defendant appears on a screen. I’ve actually been in a court room to see this multiple times. It works fairly well. Without the private attorney, however, an inmate simply has to wait. Meaning, if you can’t afford an attorney and you are going to receive the services of a public defender, you are stuck sitting in a cell until they get around to you. There is no one to whom you can speak, no one to whom you can plead your case, and nothing a person on the outside can do to help you. This couple is getting back on their feet and they have no extra cash on hand. They couldn’t manage this on their own, which is why we stepped in to help.

I hired an attorney for her, at a reasonable rate because of the connections I have. And because I’m a priest, the lawyer started taking action before I had even paid the retainer. Where the Solicitor General’s Office wasn’t sure it would be possible to get her on the jail calendar this week, even with an attorney, the attorney managed it with one call. That means that she should probably be out today. Two lawyers, including the one I hired, think that the charge will be dismissed for a variety of reasons. One, it is VERY old for this sort of thing. Two, it shows that she’s never been in trouble or even had her ID run by the police for anything else in that time; no speeding tickets, no moving violations, etc. Three, she has a valid driver’s license, which means that whatever the original issue was, it was dealt with in some way. And four, she spent more time in jail already than someone would have ever been naturally sentenced to as a result of the of the original offense. All believe, and hope that the judge agrees, that this is a woman who does not deserve to be in jail.  

As I write this, the court appearance hasn’t happened yet. I hope and pray that it goes as smoothly as we anticipate and that she is back on the street before dinner. I hope and pray that her employer, who knows what has happened, understands that she didn’t do anything wrong and lets her come back to work. Her husband has to deal with his own legal issues and toe the line to get his license back and his truck registration up to date. I think they have both had an eye opening experience.  I know I have.  

Here’s the thing. This won’t be nearly as bad as it could have been because she knew where to get help. I have power. (Yes, being a priest still carries some weight in certain circumstances, even if clergy aren’t as respected as we used to be in the wider culture.) I have connections within the justice system. I cared to get involved. And I have money. All of that means the general rules don’t apply to me or someone I care about the same way they do for some others.  There’s nothing illegal in any of that. And laws are still laws, as they should be. But it does highlight that the justice system isn’t working the same way for everyone. There are only so many slots in a day for jail appearances, and I am aware that hiring an attorney to get her on the calendar probably means someone else won’t get that same opportunity today.

We hear about criminal justice reform and we may not know what that means. It can mean a lot of things. In general, it means that the system, as good as it may be in comparison to some alternatives, isn’t always doing the best job for everyone it touches. There are things we need to address. For example, we lead the developed world in incarceration rates. Are Americans that much more likely to break laws? No. I don’t think so, anyway. We are simply outliers in the way our system works. For those of us who worry about taxpayer expense, that reality costs us a great deal of money. This one example I’ve encountered, for example, could have meant taxpayer liability for weeks of imprisonment for a person who probably shouldn’t have been imprisoned at all.  

We know that our system lends itself to incarceration. That’s why so many are incarcerated.  Our system is not a system that seeks to reform those who break laws, so much as it seeks to punish through incarceration. That’s not all bad (punishment has its place), but systems that don’t work to replace negative behavior with positive behavior, or don’t help set a person up for success after release, tend to exacerbate the problems. Recidivism can be affected by rehabilitation programs. And of course, we face a private prison system that isn’t universally understood, managed, or researched. Some states do better than others about ensuring cost-effectiveness vs. positive outcomes. The two need to be balanced. There have been rumblings and headlines for years about cases where public officials might have fed private prison populations at the expense of the liberties and rights of those convicted. We know, for example, that some of the larger private prison companies lobby for harsher laws to ensure that they have plenty of prisoners to bill taxpayers for. I’m not saying private prisons are universally a bad idea, but I am saying it’s an area that needs more attention.  

This is a huge and complex issue, and it certainly has its problems. I don’t have the answers, but I do have more first-hand experiences that highlight some very real struggles. My hope is that we will steadily work at them, and encourage our elected representatives to work at them. I hope we support our law enforcement and justice community for the difficult jobs they have as they do their best to serve and protect, and to provide the protections and corrections the law provides. We cannot pretend that there isn’t a need for smart and strategic reform, however. I got a glimpse of it this week, and this is just one out of millions of cases that are dealt with every day.  

Tom+

PS:  If you like podcasts and/or want to know more about criminal justice realities and challenges, check out Serial. The current season is focusing on what happens in a single courthouse, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio in this case, and what life is like for those involved with the justice system there. It’s interesting, to say the least.

God of Love and Judgment. God of Love and Redemption. We pray for those who live and work behind concrete walls, chain link fences and concertino wire. Keep them in good health and spirit. Help both the prisoner and the jailer to do the tasks before them with grace and compassion. Help both the prisoner and the jailer to see one another as human beings created in your own image. And protect both the prisoner and the jailer from those who would do them harm. We pray in the name of Jesus who showed us how to love those who have done wrong against us. Amen.   ~Adapted prayer from Episcopal Peace Fellowship