While waiting in court today to argue a motion, I saw something that just didn’t sit right with me. The state was moving to revoke a defendant’s bond. What caught my attention was the prosecutor’s statement that the defendant didn’t accept the plea offer. Maybe she misspoke. Maybe I heard it wrong. Who knows? I do know this. Whether or not someone turned down a plea offer should never be mentioned in connection with a bond revocation hearing.
Turns out there was more to the story. The defendant was on home detention, with GPS monitoring. The grounds for the revocation? He was behind on his home detention payments. You see, it costs about $70.00 a week to be on home detention.
Jail is for poor people. Home detention may not necessarily be for rich people, but it certainly is hard for the indigent.
