When a Hamilton County magistrate judge told Allen Shropshire his bond was $89,000 for a series of alleged nonviolent offenses, he said he was in shock.
Although Shropshire has never been convicted of a felony, he has lost upwards of about $50,000 bonding out of the Hamilton County Jail during his lifetime, he said.
“I can’t afford to go get a house for me and my kids because of money I’ve lost to the system,” Shropshire, 37, said. “The bond system has taken so much from me.”
This month, the nonprofit legal organization Civil Rights Corps and nonprofit Chattanoogans in Action for Love, Equality and Benevolence sent a memo to Hamilton County officials in an attempt to combat situations such as these; it outlines allegedly unconstitutional bond requirements for those awaiting trial.
It doesn’t appear that the county’s bond system is always consistent when considering the accused crime.