CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- A Chattanooga activist group is renewing their calls for a new policy they say would make our justice system fairer.
They claim that the practice of holding individuals in custody before they’re convicted of a crime is leading to more in custody deaths.
The Chattanoogans for Love, Equality, and Benevolence, or CALEB for short, argue that the lack of automatic pretrial release is disproportionately impacting low income populations.
They demand that everyone serving time inside the Hamilton County Jail while awaiting trial should be released regardless of their ability to pay bond.
CALEB claims that 22 people have died inside of the Hamilton County Jail in the past two years.
Activist King K said, “That’s 22 deaths in our Hamilton County Jail and Detention Center ladies and gentlemen. Before they’re even serving a day in their sentence.”
Fellow activist and court watcher for CALEB Jessie Bailey added, “Defendants tell the judges about the inhumane conditions inside of the jail and ask for help, only to be sent back and for nothing to change.”
However, Hamilton County Sheriff Austin Garrett disputes this number, saying that according to the Sheriff Office’s data, only 7 have died in that time span, and only 20 deaths since 2020.
He says that it is unclear to him how they are coming up with such a different number.
Sheriff Garrett said, “I take each one of these very seriously, and I take it very offensively that an organization would take and allege that many people have died within my jail.”
The Sheriff says the deaths that have happened were mostly for medical reasons.
He said, “We carry a large number of sick people in our jail. People who are addicts, who are addicted to narcotics, alcohol, things like that, they come into our jail very sick and in poor health.”
One of the big issues the Sheriff says he has with CALEB’s press conference is the location of it.
It was held in front of the Hamilton County Law Enforcement Memorial, which he says is a sacred place honoring those in our community.
Sheriff Garrett said, “The people on that wall gave their life for our entire county, and that’s just unforgivable. To pull a stunt like that in front of a memorial marker.”
CALEB insists though that this advocacy is necessary as they call for automatic pretrial release and more data to be available.
Kate Coltfeld, who runs the Hamilton County Community Bail Fund, said, “Something is terribly wrong here, and we need everyone’s collaboration and effort to make it right.”
