Why fixing the US bail system is tricky

Lawmakers, activists, and reformers want to end cash bail, the practice of requiring a defendant to pay money to be released from jail before trial. Mounting evidence has shown that cash bail unfairly affects low-income minorities who don’t have the money to pay for release before their trial. As a result, defendants languish in jail while waiting for court dates. While in jail, many of them lose their jobs, housing, and parental rights, all of which can weaken their community network, erode domestic relationships, and cost the government money to keep them in jail.

'Gestapo' tactics at US police 'black site' ring alarm from Chicago to Washington

• Shocked politicians and rights groups call for inquiries into Homan Square
• Rahm Emanuel faces questions as top supporters examine ‘outrageous’ abuse

The US Department of Justice and embattled mayor Rahm Emanuel are under mounting pressure to investigate allegations of what one politician called “CIA or Gestapo tactics” at a secretive Chicago police facility exposed by the Guardian.

Politicians and civil-rights groups across the US expressed shock upon hearing descriptions of off-the-books interrogation at Homan Square, the Chicago warehouse that multiple lawyers and one shackled-up protester likened to a US counter-terrorist black site in a Guardian investigation published this week.

As three more people came forward detailing their stories of being “held hostage” and “strapped” inside Homan Square without access to an attorney or an official public record of their detention by Chicago police, officials and activists said the allegations merited further inquiry and risked aggravating wounds over community policing and race that have reached as high as the White House.