The 22nd Judicial Circuit Court in St. Louis is quite literally shackling poor residents with debt, claim leaders of the St. Louis Public Defender’s Office and local organizations.
In a January 10 joint letter to the circuit court judges, organization leaders alleged that the court is allowing its private contractor Eastern Missouri Alternative Sentencing Services (EMASS) to unconstitutionally extort poor St. Louis residents by charging them monthly fees for pre-trial GPS monitoring ankle bracelets and other services.
“The practices highlighted in this letter not only jeopardize someone’s individual liberty, they reveal an expanding landscape of mass incarceration through the proliferation of a money-based electronic monitoring industry,” said Blake Strode, executive director of ArchCity Defenders, and one of the co-signers on the letter.
“The status quo of mass pretrial detention is already a moral outrage, but to condition freedom upon payment to a private company is just grotesque.”
Also signing the letter were leaders of the St. Louis Public Defender’s Office, The Bail Project, American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, and the Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center.
A spokesman for the circuit court said, “The court will take the letter under consideration. We have no further comment at this time.”
The 22nd Judicial Circuit contracts with EMASS to provide pretrial supervision of criminal defendants, the letter explains. And instead of paying for the company’s services, the circuit court transfers the cost of supervision onto individuals.
For example, if a judge says that an individual is eligible to go home with a GPS ankle monitor, it costs a $50 installation fee and $10 per day. Pretrial “supervision” check-ins are $30 per month. Alcohol monitoring costs a $75 installation fee and $15 per day (requiring an initial payment of $525 from individuals immediately upon release from jail).
Before an individual is ordered to EMASS supervision, the court does not ensure that the person can afford these fees, the letter states.
Issac McClendon, a father of three, was recently released from the Medium Security Institute (also known as the Workhouse) with injuries so severe that he had to go to the emergency room eight times within the first month of being released. When the court ordered him to be monitored with a GPS ankle bracelet, he said no one told him that he had 24 hours to find $300 to pay the private company. GPS monitoring costs $300 per month, and the entire first month must be paid up front.
“I didn’t have $300,” McClendon said. “It’s stressing me all day and night. Luckily, I came up with the money, thanks to the Bail Project. My family didn’t have it. And they won’t take any ifs, ands or buts about it.”
If the Bail Project hadn’t stepped in to help McClendon with the initial cost, he would have had a warrant issued for his arrest.
If people can’t afford EMASS’ services, the company will tell the court that individuals “have not complied with a condition of release,” even if they report to the EMASS office and fulfill all other requirements not related to money, the letter states. And EMASS’ notice to the court does not specify whether or not the failure to comply is based on ability to pay. Based only on these notices from EMASS, courts in this circuit issue warrants for the re-arrest of pretrial criminal defendants without a hearing on the issue, the letter states.
Organization leaders pointed to the case of a single father who was forced to borrow the $300 for the activation fee from his mother, who later almost went homeless. After he lost his temporary job, he could no longer afford the $30 per month supervision fee. He chose to provide what limited funds he had to provide for his child over the EMASS fee, and he went back to jail to await his trial.
The court’s judges have failed to address the needs of poor defendants, the letter states, even though they have the option to do that. The Circuit Court’s contract with EMASS states that the judges may assign a limited number of cases of indigent defendants to EMASS, “which EMASS shall handle at no charge.”
“We are not aware of any courts in this circuit referring someone to EMASS at no cost due to their indigency,” the letter states.
Organization leaders issued several recommendations, including waiving or publicly funding the fees for indigent individuals and stopping the practice of incarcerating people for failure to pay EMASS fees. They also said the court needed to stop using court resources or authority to serve as a debt collector for EMASS.
“Pretrial release is our constitutional and statutory presumption in Missouri, but cash bail and unaffordable pretrial services continue to incarcerate public defender clients unnecessarily,” said District Defender Mary Fox, St. Louis City Trial Office.
“The chief justice of Missouri has reminded the courts that jails should be reserved only for those who pose danger or risk of flight, but in the City of St. Louis the jails are occupied by too many citizens who are there simply because they are poor.”
