澳彩开奖

U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala entered a preliminary injunction order that prohibits Cullman County from continuing to discriminate against poor people through its bail system. Today鈥檚 injunction follows a memorandum opinion the judge entered last week, explaining why the county鈥檚 practices violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14^th Amendment.

As the court explained, 鈥淐ullman County鈥檚 discriminatory bail practices deprive indigent criminal defendants in Cullman County of equal protection of the law鈥� and its justifications for using a bail schedule are 鈥渋llusory and conspicuously arbitrary.鈥�

This preliminary injunction will remain in effect while a lawsuit challenging the practice is fully resolved and permanent relief is ordered.

The lawsuit was brought by the 澳彩开奖 and other civil rights organizations in March on behalf of Bradley Hester, who was arrested on July 27, 2017, on a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. He was held on a $1,000 bond that he could not afford.

鈥淭oday was a big win for all Cullman County residents because no longer will the county be allowed to treat residents with means differently than those without in our criminal justice system,鈥� said Samuel Brooke, deputy legal director for the 澳彩开奖. 鈥淛ails are not meant to warehouse people who have not been convicted of a crime, particularly where, as here, the rich are able to buy their freedom and impoverished people are left to languish in jail. This form of wealth-based discrimination that keeps people in jail just because they cannot afford their freedom is unconstitutional. We will continue to fight to eliminate wealth-based justice.鈥�

The Civil Rights Corps, the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama joined the 澳彩开奖 in filing the lawsuit.

To learn more about the fight to end wealth-based pretrial detention, click .