A Judge Is Letting a Private Company Charge People to Get Out of Jail,by Nathalie Baptiste

This post originally appeared at Mother Jones. "If arrestees can’t immediately pay, they often languish in jail until they can.“They’re operating a court-approved shakedown,” says Brandon Buskey, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project. “This is what happens when the court system signs away your liberty to a company whose motive is to make money,” says Buskey. The suit  alleges that RHI requires that individuals remain in detention until the company receives confirmation that the initial fee to the company has been paid. If arrestees can’t immediately pay, they often languish in jail until they can."