Expert: John Varghese - 10/1/2009

Question
I realize that this isn't a civil matter but I was unable to find a All experts listing for criminal attorneys.  Are you able to help?

My husband and I provide free life and family counseling for inmates that need and request help.  We generally try to stay away from the legal aspects of an individual's case even when they ask for our help. We are not attorneys.
We also realize that there is always at least two sides to every individual story.

Having explained this, I have a question.
Can an individual be held in jail for months without having been arrested or read their Miranda rights or without having been charged with a crime?  No information in the computer system and no paper work.  (This has nothing to do with Homeland Security or any other Federal agency.)

I have more details if necessary and the info came to me from the individual being held and also one of the jailers who is also the wife of the jail administrator.
  This is a small Texas county with a huge good ol' boy network.
This individual's court appointed attorney is now the full time temporary county DA since the elected DA resigned last week.
My husband and I prefer to continue to be able to offer our services to the inmates so we are very hesitant to get involved openly...but this is only one of many instances where it appears that an individuals rights are possibly not being respected.
We get along well with the newly elected sheriff but he appears to have his hands full at this time.

I guessing that you can only give me general advice, maybe hypothetically?  Possibly advice on someone that we can contact if you are unable to assist us?

Thank you so much for your time and please feel free to contact us if you have questions.
Mel and Guyna Horne


Answer
Dear Mel and Guyna Horne,

First of all let me appreciate for the good work you are doing. Only a few people has the moral courage to do what you are doing for hapless inmates of prison.

Second one of my major for Post Graduation is indeed Criminal Law. Having said that I would also like to add that I am from India and my expertise is largely in Indian law, though I have done a comparative study as part of my teaching assignment.

Now on to the question: and the straight answer is no. NO person can be held in jail for more than 24 hours without either a charge or having been arrested on suspicious circumstances. Loss of data about the person from the State Computers is no reason to trample on the Constitutional rights of any person.

Such an act would be squarely in violation of the 14th Amendment rights of the individual(unless he is held in connection with a terrorist charge- which I assume is not the situation in your case, as you have mention that he is not arrested and no records exist in his name). Moreover there are at least half a dozon international covenants to which USA is also a signatory, which specifically prohibits keeping a person in custody without any charge, and this includes the famous Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

You can approach the County court or directly the Supreme Court of Texas citing a violation of 14th Amendment rights of the individual as his best friend. But before that I would suggest that you verify the details given by the person, both from the jail officials as well as independently, so that you should not be made a scape goat by unscrupoulous elements.

It would be better that you approach the Legal aid centres the details of which are available in website, so that they will take up the case, without putting the financial burden on you:
I am giving below the websites of a few legal aid centres in Texas:
Advocacy Incorporated                  : http://www.advocacyinc.org/index.cfm
Legal Aid of Northwest Texas           : http://www.lanwt.org/
Lone Star Legal Aid                    : http://www.lonestarlegal.org/
Texas Legal Services Center (State Support)  : http://www.tlsc.org/
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid              : http://www.trla.org/

Of this I would suggest that you approach the state supported Texas Legal Services Centre. While browsing through the sites, I understand that some of these organisations give only Civil legal aid, though they would be in a position to direct you to the right legal aid team who can represent your case.

Hope I had been of what little help I can be. If you can give further details, I can defenitely try to help in which ever way I can.
Regards

John Varghese