Kentucky Will Arrest You for No Reason and Take All Your Money

One of the many unjust and unconstitutional consequences of repug budget-cutting.

Kevin Drum:

Adam Liptak tells us that the Supreme Court is pondering whether to hear a case from Ramsey County, Minnesota, which confiscates money from people it arrests. That's what happened to Corey Statham, who was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, and then released:

But the county kept $25 of Mr. Statham’s money as a “booking fee.” It returned the remaining $21 on a debit card subject to an array of fees. In the end, it cost Mr. Statham $7.25 to withdraw what was left of his money.

 

....Kentucky bills people held in its jails for the costs of incarcerating them, even if all charges are later dismissed.

SNIP

I continue to be gobsmacked by all of this. I've heard all the arguments about due process and civil vs. criminal and so forth, and not a single word of it strikes me as anything but an obvious sham. And yet courts—all the way to the Supreme Court—and judicial agencies—all the way to the Department of Justice—accept them without blinking. It's the kind of thing that makes me wonder if I'm stuck in some kind of Kafka-based virtual reality. How can something so obviously wrong be approved with a shrug by so many people?

My bold italics. County running short at the end of the month? Round up a bunch of ni**ers and spics on bogus charges and collect their mothers' last dimes.