A Kentucky corrections facility is under scrutiny after a woman was brought into a Louisville court apparently wearing no pants, having allegedly been offered no hygiene products for three days.
The incident was caught in a recording of the court proceedings. The woman’s lawyer informed Judge Amber Wolf that her client had not received hygiene products or been given pants since she arrived in jail three days previously.
“This is outrageous,” Ms Wolf said, in the video released on Friday. “Is this for real? Am I in the Twilight Zone?”
The judge immediately called the Metro Corrections director to ask: “Why is there a female defendant standing in front of me with no clothes on?”
The woman had been arrested for failure to complete a diversion program, which would have wiped a 2014 shoplifting charge from her record, and originally sentenced to 75 days in prison. Before learning of her ordeal, the judge rejected the sentence and said it was “ridiculous”. The woman was eventually given a $100 fine and time served.
In the video, it is unclear what the woman is wearing as she is covered by the podium. A photograph released later showed her wearing yellow athletic shorts that were almost entirely covered by her T-shirt.
A jail spokesman told news channel WDRB the woman had not been held long enough to warrant being given a jumpsuit.
“This is pretty standard that when individuals are arrested, they remain in the clothing that they’ve been arrested in,” spokesman Steven Durham said. “Especially for the first 72 hours.”
In court, the woman was given a jumpsuit after the judge raised concerns and the deputy director of Metro Corrections told the judge she should have received one. The woman told the judge several other women in holding also did not receive jumpsuits, and the criteria were ambiguous.
The judge apologised to the woman and said she should have only been in jail for a day and then released.
“The fact you’re in custody is your fault,” she said. “The rest of this is completely inhumane and unacceptable, and I’m incredibly sorry you had to go through this.”
Guardian Service