Federal lawsuit filed against Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office and district court

A federal class-action lawsuit was filed Wednesday against the 15th Judicial District Court and Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office, alleging officials here routinely violate the constitutional rights of poor people through the use of an assembly-line system of setting bail without consideration to what an individual can afford to pay.

“Edward Little, the named Plaintiff in this case, is in jail tonight because he and his family cannot pay a few hundred dollars,” said Charlie Gerstein, an attorney with Civil Rights Corps. “He has not been found guilty of a crime. And he has not been found to be dangerous or a flight risk. But he is in jail anyway because he does not have enough money. Hundreds of thousands of other people like Mr. Little are in jail tonight because of their poverty."

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, and the defendants are Thomas Frederick, Commissioner of Louisiana’s 15th Judicial District; Chief Judge Kristian Earles of the 15th Judicial District; and Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark Garber.

According to the lawsuit, the wealth-based detention system in Lafayette Parish violates the 14th Amendment’s due process and equal protection clauses. Here’s how it works, according to a news release from the MacArthur Center:

Read more: http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/local/2017/06/06/federal-lawsuit-filed-against-lafayette-parish-sheriffs-office-and-district-court/373862001/