Summary: On today's episode, Judge Powell of the Alamosa Municipal Court violated civil rights and punished defendants for their poverty. He used jail, and the threat of jail, to collect money from defendants who could not pay, in violation of state law. We shined a light on his unjust practices in the investigative report, Justice Derailed. John sits down with an author of this report, Becca Curry, Research and Policy Associate at the ACLU of Colorado. Alejandra speaks with Alex Raines, a former public defender, about his first-hand experiences at the Alamosa Municipal Court. Also, John talks about a case involving a woman who was held in the El Paso Jail, and separated from her children for 27 days, because she couldn’t pay a $55 fine. Call To Action: Alejandra calls attention to voting rights. Visit peoplepower.org to learn more.
