A surreal story from New York has shocked public opinion and exposed a serious flaw in the American justice system. The protagonist is Aitabdel Salem, 41, originally from Algeria, who spent five months in prison without realizing that he could get out with just $2.
Salem was arrested on suspicion of stealing a coat from a Manhattan store and resisting police. Initially, the court set a bail of $25,000, which was out of his reach. But a week later, the charges of assaulting police were dropped, leaving only two minor offenses of forging subway cards – for which the court imposed a symbolic fine of just $1 each, writes A2 CNN.
Unfortunately, no one informed Salem of this change. For months he remained in jail, while he could have paid the fine in coins. His new lawyers, Glenn Hardy and Theodore Goldbergh, later learned the truth and accused the previous lawyer of negligence. “Our client had no information about the real fine. He could have been free from day one,” Hardy told the media.
This is not an isolated situation. Betterbail, a startup that analyzes bail and legal defense cases, found that New York City often uses “symbolic bail” — a legal practice when someone faces multiple charges at once.
This case has reignited the debate over the effectiveness of free legal defense and the need for reform in the American criminal system. (A2 Televizion)
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