US: Lost in the System (video)

Fault Lines investigates the practice of pretrial detention and how American courts are failing the poor.
Speedy justice and the right-to-counsel are the backbone of the US criminal justice system. But a majority of the men and women locked up in America's 3,000 jails are there before even having a trial.

Many are locked up only because they are too poor to afford bail. They are legally innocent, but find themselves waiting for their day in court behind bars.


In the meantime, they are separated from their families, may lose their jobs or their homes, experience the trauma of incarceration, incur debts, and may plead guilty - even when innocent - just to get out of jail.

"I have things about me that jail helped form. You get mental scars from this... they never leave you alone," says Donovan Drayton, a former Rikers Island inmate.