The International Centre for Prison Studies, tells us that “…roughly 480,000 people sit in America's local jails awaiting their day in court;” signifying that for these unfree individuals, that the fact that the foundation of American jurisprudence which is the presumed innocence of everyone until proven guilty in a court of law, is essentially a falsehood for all those that are incapable of coming up with the bail amount so stipulated in court. It would perhaps be seen as a minor but acceptable inconvenience if the amount of time that those that cannot meet bail, was found to be simply a mere number of hours, or perhaps a couple of days; but, in fact, The International Centre for Prison Studies, tells us that, detainees “…waited a median of 68 days in jail,” which is an absolute outrage and a clear injustice for these incarcerated, but non-convicted people. Think about it, those that are in jail for 68 days, convicted of nothing, have in all likelihood, lost their place of residence, along with their car having been towed for non-payment, their credit destroyed, and their livelihood filled by someone else. Those that are in jail, lose everything of value, because they do not have the ways, the means, or the wherewithal to hold onto the little that they do have.
None of the above is fair, and further to the point, none of this appears to be in conformance with the 6th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides the defendant with the right to a speedy trial, which they certainly aren’t getting, because the trial part hasn’t even begun for them; rather they are incarcerated, pending a trial or some other fair resolution to the charges so made against them. To justify the taking away of a given person’s freedom, the government, should be held to the highest standard possible, and when it is estimated that nearly ½ million Americans are incarcerated for a meaningful amount of time at any given time during a calendar year, without having been convicted of a thing, there is something seriously flawed within American jurisprudence.
The incarceration of anyone, should be something that is the proper punishment for a conviction of a given crime. It should not be used as a way and means to keep those that the government cares not a whit about, so as to keep them essentially segregated from the general population; but the thing is that’s pretty much what the government does, time and time, again. In America, it is a crime to be poor, it is a crime to be non-championed, it is a crime to be the underclass, and it is a crime to be the forsaken. There isn’t any valid reason for America to do this to the disadvantaged, except as a means of punishment, intimidation, coercion, and crowd control. In reality, this reflects what America is in actuality, which it is not a democracy, which it is not a republic, but rather it is a police state, intolerant of all those that they believe have no value and no good purpose to the state, and therefore fair game for that police state to put their boot upon their necks, knowing that by doing so, a clear message has been sent, that appropriate subservience and obedience to the state, trumps justice, fairness, and liberty, every single day.