Past Due Bill

Edwards v. Cofield

Last Update: May 18, 2017

The ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ¿ª½±½á¹û filed a lawsuit challenging Randolph County, Alabama’s practice of using money bail to detain people arrested for misdemeanors and felonies. The practice perpetuates a two-tiered and unconstitutional wealth-based incarceration system. In the state of Alabama in general and in Randolph County in particular, financial conditions for release are based on a predetermined bail schedule, not on whether a person is a flight risk or a danger to community safety. As it stands, a person who can afford money bail will be immediately released after arrest, while a person who cannot will be incarcerated. Worse, those who are too poor to afford bail can remain in jail for up to four weeks without a hearing, with grave consequences to their lives, livelihoods, and ability to defend themselves in court. It is wrong that how quickly a person is released—if they are released at all— depends entirely on their access to money. The plaintiff in this case represents a wider class of those who have their rights infringed by the unlawful money bail system in Randolph County. The suit was jointly filed by the ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ¿ª½±½á¹û, the ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ¿ª½±½á¹û of Alabama, and the Southern Poverty Law Center in Randolph County.

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