I Advancing Social LAW ENFORCEMENT
By Brandon L. Garrett and Sandra Guerra Thompson
and Racial Justice through Bail Reform
I, Loetha Shanta McGruder, am a 22-yearold woman. I was arrested on May 19, 2016, for a misdemeanor in Jacinto, Texas. I was taken to the Harris County Jail early on Friday morning, May 20. A sheriff’s deputy told me that my bond was $5,000, and that if I could post the bond I would be released. I can’t afford to pay. I saw a judge on a TV screen who said he found probable cause and told me my bail is $5,000. I was told my court date would be on Monday, May 23. I knew that because I cannot afford to pay that amount, I would have to stay in jail until then. I was never asked if I could afford my bail. I have two children, one is 4 years old and another who is almost ten months old. My older child has Downs syndrome along with other medical needs. I am pregnant. I am going to apply for Medicaid so I can get an OB/GYN. I am indigent. I have no money or savings. My only sources of income are disability payments and child support. The disability payments are to help support my son with Downs syndrome. I have no job. I am going to apply for food stamps. I live with my boyfriend. We share household expenses. When I find work, I contribute what I can.1
n 2016, Loetha Shanta McGruder, like thousands of others in Harris County that year, suddenly found herself locked up in the Harris County Jail, the third largest jail in the country, solely because she was too broke to make bail. For a nonrefundable fee (10% of the bond amount—$500 in McGruder’s case), commercial bondsmen regularly arrange to release people of means within a few hours. This convenient option was unavailable for a poor person like McGruder. McGruder joined with Maranda ODonnell and other plaintiffs to challenge the Harris County misdemeanor bail system in federal court. Harris County’s bail system, like those in many other jurisdictions in Texas and around the country, allowed people with money to walk out of jail within a few hours, with minimal disruption to their lives. For people with means, an arrest did not usually result in losing their jobs or leaving children unattended, and the trauma and danger of time spent in jail was minimal. But for a poor person, an arrest for a minor crime could have devastating effects. Those effects are heightened post-COVID, when jails have become some of the nation’s largest epicenters of the pandemic. We write to describe the ODonnell class action litigation and the resulting Consent Decree. From our perspective as the court-appointed monitors in the case, we can report that Harris County’s bail practices have fundamentally changed for the better and continue to improve—but also that much work remains to be done. The ODonnell Consent Decree has the potential to set a national model for pretrial reform in advancing social and racial justice while promoting public safety. The Misdemeanor Bail Reform Lawsuit in Harris County In 2016, ODonnell and other plaintiffs brought a federal class action against Harris County and moved for a preliminary injunction to end the practices that unfairly kept the poor locked up. On a typical night, 500 people arrested for misdemeanors were detained in the Harris
