[Pintman]

Chemda:

I probably came across as an unsympathetic hardass. Sorry. I spent a night or two in jail a long, long time a go when I was in school. Jail just cannot suck enough. And you were understandably still shook up on the show last night.

As far as people losing their job and being separated from their loved ones and dependents when they get thrown in jail, you raise a very serious point. When people get picked up on warrants or arrested on relatively minor charges, what happens in the very first court appearance before a judge is that bail gets set.

The majority of people who find themselves in this situation are poor and can't pay for a lawyer. The difference between high bail and low or non-monetary bail is often critical to keeping a job, taking care of a family, or not having a car repo'd.

In the U.S.A., everybody theoretically has a constitutional right to have an attorney present at this stage, but public defenders are overworked and underpaid, and lots of people get unfairly high bail because they have no attorney to speak for them at that initial stage.

As a result, many wait in jail for months until trial, even though they are presumed innocent. Most of them are not flight risks or dangerous. I feel for such people. Partly because I have been in jail, partly because I'm in the business and see this all the time.

So, thanks for getting busted and highlighting the problem. I love you, even though you are a criminal.