Lawyers: Homeless man was illegally jailed for 2 months
Source: Associated Press
Kate Brumback, Associated Press
Updated 3:39 pm, Thursday, November 30, 2017
ATLANTA (AP) — A man was arrested for standing at an Atlanta intersection holding a sign reading "homeless please help" and then was illegally jailed for more than two months because he couldn't afford to pay $200 bail, a legal advocacy group says.
The Southern Center for Human Rights filed a petition Wednesday in Fulton County Superior Court seeking the release of Sean Ramsey. He was released shortly after the petition was filed against Fulton County Sheriff Ted Jackson, who oversees the jail.
Holding someone because he can't afford to pay a certain amount of money violates the U.S. Constitution, the petition says, adding that he also had not been brought before a judge and was not given access to an attorney.
Sheriff's office spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan blamed Ramsey's lengthy detention on a computer software problem that prevented paperwork from getting to the right place. She said in an email Thursday that the office is working to fix it.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Lawyers-Homeless-man-was-illegally-jailed-for-2-12395757.php
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