Detention before trial and the cash bail system were slammed during the first meeting of a panel created by Delaware Chief Justice Leo Strine Jr.
Charlotte King, co-chair of the Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice, told the group that as a result, “Jobs are lost, bills can’t be paid and families are separated.”
The Wilmington News Journal reports that King said it reminded her of the Jim Crow laws that were aimed to keep African Americans in poverty.
A number of those who appeared before the Access to Justice Commission called for an end to the bail system except in unusual cases.
The paper reports that 23 percent of Delaware’s inmates are being kept before trial.
The Commission is looking at how to deal with the over representation of African Americans in the prison system.
