In one of O Henry’s famous short stories, a bum named “Soapy” is debating what to do…as winter is coming on…he needs to find a place to stay. Given that winters in NYC are pretty harsh, Soapy is faced with finding a way to get into jail-for about 5-6 months.
In the story, Soapy vows to go straight and get a job, but winds up being arrested anyway.
Do most street people commit crimes in the fall of the year? So as to get into jail, for shelter in the winter?
Usually it’s December-March. I’ve arrested several homeless people I was sure did the minor thing they did just to get pinched. Many times they’ll refuse to identify themselves insuring they get taken into custody instead of getting a citation or a D.A. summons. Once in custody they make no effort to get bailed out and happily wait for their court hearings. I’ve had bums being held on only $25 bail and they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) come up with it.
Once in the pre-book area of the jail they have to be strip searched. The horror, my friends. The horror! And the stench! Blech!
For what it’s worth, it’s busy season in the Psych wards, too. Same reason; it’s cold out there. Walk into an ER and tell them you’re hearing voices telling you to kill yourself and you get a warm bed, double portions of meals and Medicaid pays for the good drugs and someone to give them to you.
In many larger cities, the jail is near to capacity much of the time. So they are quick to get rid of people like this, to have the space to house more serious criminals.
The “jail” (usually it’s the county Sheriff who runs it) has no say in this. It’s the courts (a judge) who determines if a person will continue to be held. Around here, anyway, the judge could not possibly care less about the jails population. it’s not his/her problem.
Most of these bums know the system and the game and know what they have to do to continue being held. Which is how you get people being held on a lousy $25 bail like I mentioned before. Those that are on probation will simply violate it. This ties the hands of the judge a bit because there are restrictions to releasing someone on a VOP because there are previous orders (from another judge) regarding the conditions of the probation.
Jeffrey Archer has a funny little story along these lines, “It Can’t Be October Already,” in his collection Cat O’ Nine Tales.
In some local jails, the person in charge - the director, warden, administrator, whatever - has discretion as to when to release nonviolent offenders, often according to a formula about max. occupancy, without the involvement of a judge. I know a city jail where this is sometimes done - probably illegally - even when a judge has ordered a specific prisoner to be held.
How about a cite on that? This is actually a very serious accusation you’re making.
This is called an “improper release”. If a judge has specifically ordered an inmate not to be released and the inmate is released, it’s not only illegal, it’s playing with fire. If an inmate is released improperly and then hurts or kills someone, the person who ultimately released them contrary to a judges orders could be looking at criminal charges themselves. This also would be a huge scandal and heads would roll!
This is not to say there might not be loopholes where you live. I know not the laws of all 50 states. But what I posted is what would happen around here.
It’s what I’ve heard around the courthouse from people in a position to know. I can offer no better cite than that, sorry.