JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Randy Walker spent 106 days in a Hinds County jail on a firearm charge, but he was never convicted of the crime. He was never indicted in the first place.
Walker was first arrested and charged with possession of a stolen firearm in August 2014. He bonded out but was arrested again on the same charge eight months later.
While serving time in Raymond Detention Center, he wrote pleading letters to Senior Circuit Court Judge Tomie Green and then Circuit Clerk Barbara Dunn. With each letter, Walker pointed out that he had never been indicted.
He had plenty of company in that regard.
During a three-month investigation, The Clarion-Ledger found that almost one in five Hinds County inmates spends long periods of time in jail before their charges are presented to a grand jury for indictment.
The jail roster for a single “snapshot” day in August showed 18 percent of inmates - 139 in all - were not indicted within three months of their arrests. This roster listed those incarcerated in Hinds County’s three jails, including Raymond Detention Center, where most inmates reside. Of those 139 inmates, 60 still have not been indicted, despite spending months, a year or longer in jail. Some of the inmates from this group were released from jail for lack of indictment during the course of this project.
Walker had been to court just once, but that was to get a $25,000 bond that he couldn’t afford. In one of his letters, he said it felt like his life was being thrown away.
He asked Dunn to see a judge. He’d reached a breaking point, saying he couldn’t take it in the jail any longer and he feared for his life. If he got out, he wouldn’t come back.
“I am especially trying to get out of this facility because gang members have control of these zones,” he wrote. “Telling us who are not, what we can and can’t do. Can you please help me any type of way you can?”
A year after he was initially charged and 106 days after his arrest, Walker was released on his own recognizance. He’d written at least six letters to Green and three letters to Dunn. Hinds County records show he has never been indicted on the firearm charge or any other felony.
Most of the 139 inmates whose cases The Clarion-Ledger reviewed in its investigation are young and black. Those who received a bond can’t afford to pay it, and the majority can’t afford a private attorney, either, meaning their case is in the hands of public defenders who represent hundreds of other clients.
Those who work in law enforcement and the Hinds County court system were quick to point out the data could include inmates whose indictments remain under seal or whose cases don’t appear in online court records because of filing glitches.
But the 79 inmates who were indicted after three months of incarceration provide a glimpse into how long it takes to be indicted in Hinds County. On average, those inmates waited more than five months in custody for indictment, and several waited a year or longer.
In addition to the 139 inmates identified during this story, Green’s administrative file shows she ordered at least nine inmates to be released on their own recognizance during the last few years for lack of indictment. She also reduced the bonds for at least 12 inmates who had served long periods without being indicted.
The amount of time they spent in jail ranges from about three months to more than a year. Ivory Robinson, who could not be reached for comment, spent 467 days in jail on burglary charges for which he has never been indicted.
In 2014, a riot in Hinds County Detention Center left one dead and five injured. The inmate who began the riot had been awaiting indictment for almost a year and a half, said state Sen. John Hohrn, D-Jackson, who got funding for a study of Hinds County Circuit Court.
“The people who are assigned, whose job it is to handle this may say, ’We have a justifiable reason for it,’ but I’ve yet to see anything that truly justifies it,” Horhn said.
District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith wasn’t surprised that 18 percent of inmates remained unindicted after spending at least three months in jail, adding, “It’s much better than it being 50 percent.”
A federal study from 2009 showed that on average, 85 percent of felony cases in the United States are adjudicated within a year from arrest. That figure suggests indictments take place soon after a defendant’s arrest, or within a year, at the very least.
The leadership of Jackson Police Department’s detective bureau also did not describe the lag time for indictments as a problem or express frustration. They say they have a good working relationship with the district attorney’s office.
“Let me clear this up for you, OK? Let’s clear that air now. It’s not an issue. . It’s just not. . We’re sending good work over, and in return, we’re getting success in getting individuals indicted,” said Cmdr. Tyree Jones.
Court records show, however, that the department previously referred cases to the FBI that they felt weren’t being properly prosecuted because the defendants had a connection to Smith. The district attorney has disputed those claims.
Hinds County Public Defender Michele Purvis Harris also questioned the lag time between arrest and indictment.
“There’s something wrong,” she said. “It shouldn’t take this long.”
The Clarion-Ledger received no simple explanations for the delay in indictments, with Green, Harris and JPD referred the question to the district attorney.
“I cannot answer you definitively without looking at that list, because it certainly could be another agency’s case,” Smith said.
No one appears to have the authority or responsibility to monitor the progress of criminal cases and the court system as a whole.
“When I talk to folks in law enforcement or in the judicial system, they are quick to point out, ’Look, I did my job,’” Hohrn said. “’You know, I got it to this point. I did what I was supposed to do, and what happens after that is, that’s not in my lane.’”
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Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, https://www.clarionledger.com
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