By JR Robinson, JustMyMemphis.com

A Community on the Brink
The October 27 public comment section at the Shelby County Commission meeting turned the floor into a forum of urgent justice. Overcrowding, failing facilities, unfair bail, food insecurity, and demands for real reform dominated the session. It wasn’t just advocates and experts; families, former inmates, and everyday citizens bore witness to a system at its breaking point and called on the commission to act.

Personal Stories: Overcrowding, Hunger, and Injustice
Josh Spickler, Executive Director of Just City, brought the crisis into sharp focus with chilling detail:
“Last night… my friend, recently celebrating the birth of a child and a new job, was in jail… stood in a 9x5 cell with nine other men all night long. I could hear it in his voice. I don’t know what that is if not torture… but that’s happening a block away in our jail.”

What’s behind the overcrowding? Spickler cited a wave of minor arrests: “A person pulled over for an air freshener on the mirror. A bicycle delivery driver not in the bike lane. A person approached for leaning out of a window… none of these are violent crimes, but they’re swept into jail, shoved into tiny cells, standing for days.”

He described the intake lobby, designed for brief stays, crammed with nearly 300 people. “People are spending days and hours there. Some don’t even get space in a cell. This is happening in our community, right now.”

Bail and Poverty: The Price of Hunger is Jail
Laramie Wheeler, bail fund and advocacy coordinator at Just City, drove home the economic injustice.

She recounted cases of sky-high bonds for small, nonviolent offenses:

• $2,500 bond for stealing dish soap
• $750 for tissue and paper towels
• $1,500 for $41 worth of food
• $4,000 for vitamins and glasses
• $2,000 for a bag of jalapeno poppers and lemonade (originally set at $20,000)

“What do these tell me?” Wheeler asked. “That people are hungry. That marginalized communities are overpoliced. That your constituents need you before they commit these crimes, not after… The opposite of poverty is not wealth. The opposite of poverty is justice.”

She described the totality of deprivation inside: people sitting and sleeping on floors, not eating, not showering, not getting calls, pepper-sprayed for small infractions. “Accessibility to food, medical care, and security of person is a basic human right. The Commission alone has the legal duty to ensure adequate jail care. ‘Your constituents need you. Pay attention.’”

Justice Reform and Oversight: Families, Advocates, and Former Inmates
Many speakers addressed the pain of families, the deaths and overdoses in jail, and the lack of transparency.

Karen Spencer McGee of Black Lives Matter Memphis shared that grieving families had spent hours on calls about jail deaths from overdoses and violence. She pushed for direct oversight—specifically, for tours to be allowed “so you can’t just advocate, you know what’s really going on up in there.”

Others, like a local veteran, described being wrongfully denied entry to jail and facing retaliation after voting—a stark illustration of due process violations. He concluded:
“Justice begins when those in authority confront wrongdoing and make it right… I’m not here for vengeance. I’m here for justice and accountability.”

Commission Responses and Promised Actions
The commission did not treat the stories as background noise. Key follow-up actions and accountability steps emerged:

• Tour and Oversight Requests: Commissioners and activists agreed that direct experience of jail conditions is vital for transparency. However, tours are at the discretion of the Sheriff’s Office, requiring official requests and, advocates contend, public pressure.
• Justice Center Initiatives: An Ad Hoc Committee on the Justice Center is working on a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to contract an independent review and needs assessment. The process aims to determine the actual size and scope of new or renovated jail facilities and recommend humane improvements for the system.
• Policy and Legislative Solutions: Commissioners reinforced their statutory responsibility to ensure facility standards—food, cleanliness, medical care—and discussed the need to address bail reform, facility updates, and alternative intervention programs at both local and state levels.
• Post-Meeting Homework: Attendees and advocates are asked to submit comments and evidence for the RFQ process to ensure community input shapes future reform initiatives.

The Road Forward
The October 27 meeting’s public forum did more than air grievances. It issued a mandate: Shelby County must change how it sees, staffs, and supports its incarceration system. Families of the dead, the wrongly jailed, the hungry, the advocates all now expect action.

The Commission’s job: turn powerful testimony into just policy-so that justice, not poverty, shapes the future behind Shelby County’s walls.