[morganvachon]

> I guess the suspects should not go to the same place as the convicts.

By and large, they don't. Suspects go to county or city jail, not prison, to wait for bail or their court date. Convicted persons go to prison.

The issue is that a large, and growing, percentage of the pre-trial jail population is repeat offenders, people who have been to prison and therefore the jail environment begins to resemble the prison environment. In the county where I work, with a total population of nearly 1 million people, the jail houses about 2300 inmates on a regular basis. Those inmates are classified and housed based on a number of factors, including the type and severity of their current charges, their criminal history, direct observation by medical and psychological staff, age and infirmity, and so on.

Still, even with this sensible approach to keeping the "hardcore" inmates away from those accused of minor crimes, occasionally someone who has never seen the inside of a jail before ends up in a cell or dorm with career criminals. There's no easy solution, but proper classification and staff education go a long way towards keeping pre-trial jails safer for the accused.

As for the subject of this article, I can't help but wonder how high his bond was set for that particular charge, given that most bonding companies typically charge no more than 15% of the total bond amount. Even if his bond was $10,000 (which would be consistent with the charge here in Georgia, but of course NYC may be drastically different), the fee to a professional bondsman would be $1500, something his family and friends could scrape together. Even if his bond was set higher than that, he could have petitioned the judge for a reduced bond or even a ROR (released on his own recognizance) bond, given the non-violent nature of the offense and the fact he's never had a felony conviction.

No, it sounds like a big part of the problem is apathy on the part of the public defender's office in NYC, coupled with district attorneys who care more about conviction rates than actual justice and judges who are nothing more than rubber stamp machines.

[ufmace]

Like apparently happens for many cases, there's probably a whole list of better options potentially available to people in the article's subject's position... as long as you have access to money. You could pay a bond and get out while awaiting trial, if you have money. You could petition the judge for a reduced bond or something, if you have the money to pay a lawyer to really care about your case and spend time on it. You could be confident of winning at trial when you're actually innocent, if you have the money to pay a lawyer to really research the case and all of the details and explain why you are not guilty.

No money, and apparently you are stuck in jail, with your only representation being a public defender who is at best drastically overworked and has very little time to spend on your case.

[coldcode]

It's not apathy for public defender's office, it's that each one generally has dozens of cases to try to work on. Governments hate to spend money on public defense and prosecutors are happy to make their lives miserable. I find it amazing that anyone actually wants that job.

[imroot]

I was a public defender for a year. When I was interviewed, I was told that I'd normally do about 80-100 cases a year. During that year, I experienced true burnout around my 250th case. I took an unpaid Leave of Absence and ultimately left law because of this.

[gamblor956]

Jails are for short-term stays, i.e., defendants at any pre-trial stage (including pre-arraignment), and misdemeanor defendants that are serving sentences of 1 year or less.

Prisons are for felony defendants that are serving sentences of more than 1 year, though in many cases prisoners that are sentenced to less than 2 years end up serving their time in jail due to overcrowding in the prisons.