Challenging the Money Bail Practices in Cullman County
Hester et al. v. Gentry et al.
In 2018, Civil Rights Corps and its partners, the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union, and the ACLU of Alabama, filed a lawsuit alleging that hundreds of people in Cullman County, Alabama, are routinely jailed before trial due to their inability to pay bail in exchange for their release. Our putative class action aims to end the practice. The Complaint alleges that the county operates a wealth-based justice system where conditions of release are determined by a person’s wealth. For example, plaintiff Bradley Hester, who was arrested in 2017 on a misdemeanor charge, could not pay a $1,000 bond because he was indigent. The lawsuit alleges that he was held in the Cullman County Jail simply because he could not afford the price of his freedom.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama issued a preliminary injunction in September 2018, which temporarily stopped Cullman County from relying on a secured bail schedule. The preliminary injunction allowed thousands of people to return home to their families rather than languish in jail because they could not afford to pay bail. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit later reversed that preliminary injunction and found that changes that Cullman County made to its bail policies after the litigation began were facially constitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court denied plaintiffs’ petition for a writ of certiorari, and the case is continuing to proceed on the merits in the trial court.
Media Coverage:
Partners:
ACLU
ACLU of Alabama
Filings:
Memorandum for Class Certification (Mar 12, 2018)
Complaint (Mar 9, 2018)
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