Salcedo: ‘Legal system targets and cages poor people’

On Tuesday afternoon Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lawrence P. iff issued a preliminary in unction halting enforcement of LA County’s harmful Cash Bail Schedule while a class action lawsuit filed by Public Justice and Civil ights Corps alleging that wealth-based detention is unconstitutional proceeds.

Last January, Danielle Dupuy-Watson noted that “BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately impacted by this systemic injustice. Over 85% of people in LA jails are BIPOC. LGBTQ+ people are twice as likely to be arrested relative to the rest of the population. A survey of incarcerated LGBTQ+ people revealed that 74% of those interviewed were incarcerated simply because they couldn’t afford the price of freedom.”

Bamby Salcedo, president and CEO of TransLatin@ Coalition, knows this discrimination. Salcedo spoke with the Blade addressing the cash bail

“Incarceration matters to me because I have experienced firsthand what it is to be incarcerated. hen first came to Los Angeles in , there were no resources. hatever resources we needed, we founded in community. And so, to survive, I had to engage in the street economy— sex work, petty theft crimes. All of my convictions were drug related — I needed to escape from my reality. I had to sell my body for drugs and food and shelter.

“I am a survivor of that war with drugs. But trans people continue to be pushed to engage in the street economy as means to survive. Trans people continue to be criminalized and incarcerated because of who we are — but also be- cause of the lack of opportunities that we still do not have. started being arrested in and went to the Hall of Justice Jail, or the old county jail. But the very same things continue to happen in our community today.

“A lot of people refer to the justice system, but in all reality, it’s an injustice system because the way the legal system is set up is to specifically target and cage poor people. People with money get out and continue to do crimes. Poor Black and Brown people continue to be incarcerated. So, there’s definitely a huge disparity there. They have set up this bail system that they say is a way for people to get out. But in all reality, it’s a way for people to continue to be incarcerated.

“What’s the solution? Obviously, it really depends on the alleged reason for the arrest. Why can’t people just get a ticket if people were trying to survive? Take myself as an example. I had to steal makeup from a store. I had to because I had no other way to get it. But if I were to get caught, if I would’ve gotten a ticket for me to appear, I would probably have had the opportunity with less stress to tell the judge, ‘this is my situation.’ But now incarcerated, you are stressed and you are violated in other ways by other people who are also incarcerated.

“In my case, I was sexually assaulted in the county jail multiple times. Even though they would separate you, just like they do now — before you get to where you are going, you are in this holding cell and you’re prone to being assaulted. And they parade people like myself around. They laugh at us and we’re humiliated. All of those things. Why can’t we avoid all of that? Instead of being traumatized, why can’t we be supported with the resources that we need instead of being incarcerated?

“And they target specific neighborhoods and specific Black and Brown populations that live in these neighborhoods. It’s like they don’t target people in Beverly Hills — but they do go target people in South LA. In my case, back in the s, it was Santa onica oulevard and sex workers. We were constantly targeted and being trapped by undercover officers.

“So, we need to completely change the way the system is set up because the truth is that the cash bail system impacts everyone.” FROM STAFF REPORTS