Some of the inmates who met Pope Francis have been charged with serious crimes, such as murder, rape or robbery, which judges may decide require them to be locked up in the interest of public safety until their case is resolved in court. But others have been charged with much less serious offenses and are being held only because they cannot afford to purchase their freedom as they wait for the justice system to resolve their case. The vast majority of the people at the facility are there because they have not made bail. They have not yet been convicted, meaning they are supposedly presumed innocent.
One inmate HuffPost spoke with has been there for more than two years, and his case is just being resolved. Another inmate who is being sentenced now has already been behind bars for 23 months. Yet another has been in for 19 months and still not been sentenced.
Poor inmates often end up spending more time behind bars than they would have if they had just been immediately convicted of the crime they were charged with. One inmate interviewed by The Huffington Post called bail "outrageous" and noted that being locked up for months can have devastating effects on people's lives.
