I'm wondering if you know how many people are loose with outstanding warrants - including those who have been arrested for violent crimes.
I note that a license most often gets suspended for DUI, if one is to believe local reports. Gonna run the story of the drunk with suspended license who kills somebody?
You can't get bail money off an EBT card, but you can get enough cash for alcohol and borrow a car.
Bang!
Sorry. We couldn't keep him in jail, it would be inhumane.

There's facts missing in your story. $10,000 bail is clearly excessive if the only charge was driving on a suspended license. Keep in mind that it costs a lot of money to keep someone locked up, so release ROR is usually freely granted for non-violent and traffic offenses. And, another way to keep her from driving is to impound the car. So, what's the rest of the story? What was her criminal history? What other charges was she facing? Relying on the cherry picked facts of a story by an advocacy group may pass for journalism where you are, but, it's not a wise basis on which to make important decisions.

I'd really like to feel bad for pregnant women in prison.And what happened to that baby is sad.

However, between myself and all my family and friends, there have been about 100 births in the past ten years.Not one of those mother's was ever arrested at any time during her pregnancy.

Not disagreeing with the bigger points being made, just pointing out that the story about the actual birth is a bit - overwrought.

The birth took place in the medical unit of the MCSD jail, with multiple medical personnel in attendance. The impression given - that she was left in a cell to give birth alone and unaided - is not true at all. Maybe not an ideal circumstance, but apparently mother and baby are doing just fine.

To the larger point, totally agree - jail is only for persons who offer a real and immediate threat of harm to life or property. But it's now become a system for securing people who are going to be revenue sources for the CJS. Macomb County also runs a pay-to-stay program with a sting in the tail - it charges convicted inmates a per-diem for their time in jail, including any time they spent there pre-trial. So there are positive, revenue incentives to set high bail and throw people in jail because they can't make bail. In the instant case, if she went to trial for the suspended license charge, and was unable to pay the fine, and got so much as single day in jail - she would be on the hook for charges for all the time she spent in the jail before she went to trail or was convicted on anything.

It's truly the new debtor's prison, with the added benefit that the prison is the one creating and adding to the debt. It's shameful.

llater,

llamas

It's a shame that the local ACLU, BLM, and Actors Union can not get together and bring about an immediate legal order to stop inmates from being denied medical treatment (bail is a separate issue).

Guess they were not from Syria with a job waiting at Google.

So we (country) can immediately shut down a President's EO but not force a possibly corrupt County from endangering prisoners?

Where's my violin? I misplaced during all of the protests.

So yeah, there's usually a lot more to these stories than has been reported. I'm not making judgement one way or the other, at least not yet. Point is taken about wasting jail space and resources on non-violent offenders. On the other hand, there's the fact that a lot of non-violent offenders are serial committers of property crimes, and you can't let them continue to be scofflaws without consequences -- failure to enforce property crime laws is one of the things that's killing people's trust in the government and the law these days.

Those ankle monitors don't work. Career criminals know a dozen ways to defeat them. They'll cut the band and give it to someone else to carry around for a few days, so it looks like normal movements. By the time law enforcement realizes something is up, the perp is two states away, committing new crimes.

Llamas' point about law enforcement being seen as a revenue generator is taken. I note in the original article the bit about Jennifer Meyers, who was apparently imprisoned for debt. If a person doesn't make enough money to pay child support, how does throwing them in jail help? It's basically a government tantrum. The fact that the victim in this case is a woman makes it no less unfair. I offer no comment about the circumstances of her death (it may be another one of those there's-more-to-the-story things), but she probably should not have been in jail in the first place.

The crux of the problem is the levying of fines and fees according to the accused's perceived ability to pay, rather than the severity of the criminal behavior. Career criminals can nearly always find ways to weasel out of paying fines, and that leaves the innocent, and the usually upstanding people who have committed minor infractions, to bear the cost. It winds up being a topsy-turvy system that throws the book at mostly-good people, while the career criminals skate.

$10,000 bail is clearly excessive if the only charge was driving on a suspended license.

Why assume I only checked one source or that bail amounts make sense or are fair?

The Macomb County jail has a history of deaths there when a need for medical attention is ignored. What if there were complications from the birth? Do you think jail facilities and doctors are on par with the specialists at a hospital?

Detroit News:

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/macomb-county/2017/02/07/macomb-county-jail-birth-sparks-controversy/97620608/

She was scheduled to undergo a C-section in April since she had complications delivering her first child, said Tina Chastain, the newborn’s paternal grandmother.

Preston alerted jail personnel, though, later in March about what she believed were labor pains, Chastain said. “She went to them four times telling them she was in labor.”

Wickersham said his staff evaluated Preston at least twice before the delivery and “didn’t believe she was in labor … and she was sent back upstairs” to her cell.

When Preston complained about labor pains again on March 20, she was brought to the jail infirmary and placed in a holding cell as nursing staff evaluated her, he said. “They were on the phone, I understand, with the doctor, at which point the baby started to come. Medical staff helped deliver it. The ambulance was called and she went to the hospital.”

Wickersham said she delivered on a mattress placed on the floor of the infirmary cell.

Sterile environment, right?

She wasn't a "career criminal." Again, we're putting people in jail who can't pay when there are other means to keep them from missing court dates.

I don't think highly of a person who drives on an expired license, but the question really needs to be: Do we think they're going to hold up a liquor store at gunpoint if they aren't thrown in a cage?

Another story:

http://lawnewz.com/crazy/woman-facing-traffic-violation-forced-to-give-birth-on-jail-floor-after-staff-wouldnt-take-her-to-hospital/

Preston, who did not have a prior criminal record, had to go to Macomb County jail when a judge set $10,000 cash bond for her case and she didn’t have the money. She was ordered to remain in custody until her next court date, which was set for five days later. It’s unclear why the judge set such high bail for a first time offense, or why Preston’s license was suspended.

The Macomb County Jail has garnered attention for other troubling incidents that resulted in an investigation. In 2013, 37-year-old mother Jennifer Meyers died of sepsis after being sentenced to 30 days for not paying child support. She developed a fever, and cell mates reportedly tried to treat her with wet cloths while seeking proper treatment, but the jail wouldn’t take her to the hospital. Meyers died after 12 days. The following year, David Stojcevski was hit with a 30-day sentence for missing a court date on a careless driving ticket, and died 17 days in from withdrawal of prescribed medication. He lost 50 pounds during that time, yet staff didn’t take him to the hospital, despite being able to watch his condition deteriorate on security video.

".Not one of those mother's was ever arrested at any time during her pregnancy."

Pretty slick bunch of criminals, eh?

"Where's my violin? I misplaced during all of the protests."

The public will never protest the "right' things by its very nature of being the public- it's always based on what's popular.

So yeah I feel really sorry for this woman. My violin is always on me for individuals regardless of how right or wrong i believe the public is behaving or whether my family has personally suffered from that particular form of abuse.

This story reminds me of my run ins with LA department of transportation. Even though the DMV said I had updated tags, and even though LA county wrote me a letter saying they knew I had updated tags they fined me. I wasn't even fully living in CA at the time they sent out the letter but if my mom hadn't seen it who knows what would have happened with the fines.

Ignored my main point.

Nope. You just didn't get mine.

The Goddess' headline: "We Have No Business Caging Non-Violent People For Not Having Money For Bail"

May I be the first to say, "Bullshit!"?

A habitual drunk driver is not necessarily violent, but still dangerous. He belongs in a cage.

I would suggest you revise that to "offenders who are not a danger to themselves or others."

According to CBS News tonight, she had prior warrants, hence the high bond amount.