
In ‘Profit and Punishment,’ Tony Messenger exposes how the justice system traps poor people
St. Louis on the Air
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How Did Brooke Bergen End Up in the Dent County Jail?
In every rural county in missouri, except for two, you get charged a bill when you go to jail. Judges were threatening people like brooke bergen with more jail if they couldn't come up with the money. Brooke owed 15 thousand dollarsand and that is what originally attracted me to the case. I just the math on eight dollar tube o mascera versus 15 thousand dollars for her time in jail. It was just a bill for the privilege of her being in the dent county jail for a year. And there was no way she was ever going to be able to pay it.
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