THREAD: It is with sadness that I tell you about Preston Chaney, who died in the Houston jail of COVID. He was trapped there for 3.5 months because he couldn't pay $100 after being accused of stealing lawn equipment and frozen meat. His story is important. (1)

Preston Chaney was 64 years old, and he had diabetes, heart disease, and liver disease. He was forgotten inside the jail because he was poor. Records show he was never even taken to the court in charge of his case. (2)

There is no room for social distancing in the crowded jail. Preston Chaney couldn't protect himself. He had difficulty breathing and was taken to the hospital where he was intubated and died struggling for oxygen. (3)

The system for defending poor people is horrific. A few lawyers make hundreds of thousands of dollars taking huge numbers of cases but doing little work. Many of them do not even meet their clients until pleading them guilty after months in jail. (4) https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/unchecked-power-judges-hurting-poor-texans/

Our team's filing in federal court in our case against the bail system noted that Chaney's lawyer billed for *two hours* of work on his case in the 3.5 months he was in jail before he died. The lawyer even tried to bill for work on his case *two days after Chaney died.* (5)

As the jail swelled to almost 9,000 human beings it became the site of an outbreak. But the district attorney and judges declined to even hold individual hearings to look into cases like Preston Chaney's. Thousands of people were left to get sick because they are poor. (6)

Many of those left to suffer because they couldn't pay cash bail were children. Our team @CivRightsCorps is working every day to get more of them out of jail as we speak. (7) https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1357390064582619136

The punishment bureaucracy in this country does stuff like this in every city and county every day. I explained here that it needs a radical transformation and walk through how most of what you've ever been told about it is wrong. (8) https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/the-punishment-bureaucracy

If you're interested in learning more, you can also check out my book Usual Cruelty, and all royalties are donated to the amazing @essie4justice , which organizes women with incarcerated loved ones.