A Young Man’s Six-Month Jail Ordeal
After being duped into helping a stranger load stolen goods, a teenager from Prescott spent half a year behind bars simply because he could not afford bail.
Charles Lafferty, a young man from Prescott who has been confined in the county jail since last May as a witness in the case of the state vs. G. W. Fifield, was released this morning on his own recognizance upon an order issued by Judge Brents. He promised to be on hand at Fifield's trial, which is set for the next term of the superior court. His release was effected by the recommendation of Prosecuting Attorney Wilson. Young Lafferty and a boy chum named Temple are the victims of a very peculiar circumstance. Lafferty told the court that he and Temple were employed by Fifield to help load a bale of sacks. The boys entered the barn and loaded the sacks onto the wagon, afterwards driving to Prescott with Fifield. The owner of the sacks swore out a warrant, and the two boys were arrested. At the preliminary hearing, they told their story, resulting in Fifield's arrest and the boys being held as witnesses under $150 bonds each. While Temple's parents paid his bond, Lafferty had no one to post his, leaving him to languish in jail through the entire harvest season. He had hoped to work to support himself through the winter while living with his grandparents.
“His enforced stay in jail has been very distasteful as he wished to work through harvest to earn enough money to keep him through the winter.”
Lafferty’s story highlights a systemic flaw that remains a flashpoint today: the use of cash bail to hold witnesses and defendants who are too poor to pay, effectively punishing them for their poverty. Even in 1903, the injustice of keeping a young man from his livelihood for a crime he was seemingly duped into committing was recognized as a 'peculiar' and cruel circumstance.
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