Past Due: Examining the Costs and Consequences of Charging for Justice in New Orleans

This video discusses how New Orleans residents get trapped in the city’s court system because of their lack of financial means. Interviewees share their experiences of not being able to afford bond and the hardships they face even after they are released from jail. Unpaid fines and fees are avenues through which people can be reincarcerated and this video shows how New Orleans’ poor population is most susceptible to falling into this trap. 

You can read the full text of the video here. 

Key findings

• In 2015, three out of 10 beds at New Orleans jail were occupied by someone who was being detained pretrial and could not afford bail. 
• Two of the interviewees stayed in jail for months awaiting trial and they both ended up pleading guilty just so they could get released. 
• A man in the video paid his brother’s bond to secure his pretrial release, but after all of the charges were dropped, he was still indebted to the bond agency.  

“It’s the poor people of New Orleans who are being charged all of this money. It’s re-imprisoning people”