What if you were walking down the street late at night when police officers appear and say you’re under arrest for robbery? Before long, you’re behind bars at a police precinct not knowing when this ordeal will end. Hours go by and you finally appear before a judge. What if you can’t get bail? In that case, Rikers Island could be your next stop. Now begins the difficult process of getting out – whether or not you are guilty.

Many Americans – particularly white people – assume that they would have a fighting chance to defend their presumed innocence. The U.S. Constitution, after all, guarantees the right to an attorney and a speedy trial, as well as protections against excessive bail. However, individual states have leeway in how those rights play out in practice. In New York, prosecutors – and a jammed court system – can make cases drag on for years while withholding evidence until just before a trial begins. That whole time, many defendants, especially poor ones, have to sit in pretrial detention wondering whether the prosecutor really has a case or is simply holding out for a plea deal. In such a predicament, many inmates ask themselves whether the criminal “justice” system really lives up to its name.