In a sad story making its rounds on social media, a black woman who appears to be wearing no pants for a court date gets serious backing from the judge—a woman—she stood before, a jurist who was truly irate at the state of her appearance.
WDRB reports that the unidentified inmate was brought to Jefferson District Court on Friday morning without a jumpsuit, prompting Judge Amber Wolf to call the jail and ask, “What the hell is going on?”
An attorney for the woman told Wolf that the jail “refused to give her pants and any kind of [feminine] hygiene products that she needed,” according to a video of the hearing. The defense attorney also said that inmates were being denied showers.
The video shows Wolf taking out her cellphone and calling the jail to speak with Metro Corrections Director Mark Bolton, telling someone that she wanted to ask him “why there is a female defendant standing in front of me with no pants on.”
The woman, who was in jail for not completing a diversion program on a 2014 shoplifting charge, said that she had been in jail for days without pants, despite repeated requests.
“Excuse me?” Wolf said. “This is outrageous. Is this for real?” And then, “Am I in the twilight zone? What is happening?”
Jail officials said that the woman was wearing shorts, which were hidden by a long shirt. Steve Durham, a spokesman for the jail, said the woman had not been in custody long enough to be given a jail jumpsuit.
Yet during the hearing, Metro Corrections Deputy Director Dwayne Clark brought clothing to the woman and told Wolf that she should have been given a jumpsuit.
“Dressed like she was,” Clark said, “she should have been changed into a jumpsuit. I gotta look into why she wasn’t.”
After the jail officials brought the woman clothing, Wolf called her back to the bench to apologize.
“This is completely inhumane and unacceptable,” said the judge. “I’m sorry you had to go through this.”
Wolf released the woman from jail with time served and a $100 fine. The judge said that she had no other charges and should have been in jail a day and then released.
Watch the exchange below:
Read more at WDRB.