A Mississippi county is agreeing to appoint lawyers for poor defendants immediately after their arrest and to consider alternatives to money bail.
U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate approved the settlement Tuesday, months after the parties had agreed.
The agreement settles a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of two men who say they were held for months in Scott County without a lawyer or bail.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the MacArthur Justice Center sued in 2014 on behalf of two men jailed for months without being formally charged or being appointed a lawyer.
Judges previously refused to appoint lawyers until people were indicted, when sometimes they weren’t indicted for months or years.
The agreement also affects Leake, Neshoba and Newton counties, part of the same judicial circuit. (AP)