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- NATION, Page 47American NotesPRISONSCrime Does Pay
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- Fast-buck artists take note: get yourself arrested in New
- York City, and you could be $150 to the good if you're kept in
- the slammer for a night without proper amenities. That is
- precisely how much U.S. District Judge Morris Lasker last week
- ordered the city's correction department to pay every suspect
- kept for more than 24 hours in a holding pen that rates below
- minimal standards. The unusual decision culminates more than
- a decade of feuding between Lasker and the city over the
- condition of its jail cells, many of which do not have beds or
- toilets and sinks.
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- Correction officials admit to sanitary violations but claim
- there is little they can do. They contend that the jail
- population is subject to sudden surges in arrests and note that
- the opening of a new 850-bed facility is running behind
- schedule. "Paying arrestees $150 is outrageous," said city
- council president Andrew Stein, "and rewards potential
- criminals."
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