Lawsuit: Bossier Parish routinely violates rights of poor

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Bossier Parish’s six state court judges routinely order jail time for people charged with minor crimes who can’t afford bail or an application fee for a public defender, criminal justice advocates say in a federal lawsuit filed Monday.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Shreveport contends the parish violates the constitutional rights of those too poor to pay predetermined bail amounts ranging from $100 to more than $1,000 per offense.

“When a poor person is picked up on a misdemeanor violation in Bossier Parish their bail is automatically set without regard for income, whether they are a flight risk or whether they are a danger to the community. If an arrestee cannot afford bail, he sits in jail until the court holds a hearing,” said Eric Foley, an attorney with the New Orleans office of the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, which filed the suit on behalf of James Wheat and Danny Brinson. “That process can take months.”

A message seeking comment from Bossier Parish’s chief judge was not immediately answered Tuesday.

The lawsuit also names as a defendant Bossier Parish Sheriff Julian Whittington, saying he has been ordered not to release arrestees too poor to afford a lawyer until they have paid a $40 application fee for a public defender.

“The result is that many Bossier Parish residents may languish in jail not because they are a threat to society, but simply because they are poor,” Foley said.

Katie Schwartzmann, co-director of the center, said those practices violate the U.S. Constitution’s due process and equal protection clauses in the 14th Amendment.

“It also is bad public policy,” she said. “This is a lose-lose situation for everyone.”

The lawsuit asks the court to declare the public defender application fee and “money-based detention scheme” unconstitutional and enjoin Whittington from enforcing the judge’s orders and to release the plaintiffs and all similarly situated class members.

Similar lawsuits have been filed by criminal justice advocates in other parts of the state, including New Orleans, and in several states including Washington, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Texas, Colorado and Alabama.