El Paso County to vote Tuesday on $60,000 settlement with ACLU

El Paso County’s Commissioners are expected to approve paying a $60,000 settlement on Tuesday to a woman who spent 26 days in jail because she couldn’t pay a $55 fee.

The settlement, which was negotiated by the El Paso County Attorney’s Office and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, centers around a pretrial services program that supervised people who were eligible for release from jail while awaiting a court date.

It used to require defendants like Jasime Still to pay a $55 fee before they could be released unless a judge granted a hardship waiver.

Still didn’t get a waiver, so she found herself stuck in county jail until she pleaded guilty to a felony drug charge.

Pleading cost her the chance to accept a misdemeanor plea offer that depended on her being employed, according to a statement released by the ACLU.

She didn’t want to continue being separated from her newborn and risk losing custody of her kids.

“I am grateful that this case is finally over and that I can tell my children that I was part of something bigger than just me … ,” Still said in a statement. “El Paso County did something I didn’t expect — they stepped up to make this right. I hope this case will make other places think twice before they lock people up just because they can’t pay.”

As part of the settlement the county would agree to pay 183 other people $125 for every day they spent in jail for this same reason.

El Paso County continues to support the pretrial services program, saying in a statement that it’s a key element in preventing overcrowding at the jail.