Ask For A Year In Jail When Your Bond Is Only $100, Brehs
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Born2BKing
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Homeless, and hungry
Toe Jay Simpson
Searchin’
He could have gave that man a year
Born2BKing
Veteran
Homeless people get away with most non violent crimes because the city doesn't want to put them and jail.
Born2BKing
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He’s been arrested 80 times in metro Atlanta ... and counting
Jail, rehab, anger management: Nothing yet has altered Atlanta man’s path
Credit: Matt Kempner/AJC
Tiffany Hendricks, a man who is homeless and has dealt with substance use problems, has been arrested 80 times, often in Midtown Atlanta. Matt Kempner / AJC.com
By Matt Kempner
May 21, 2024
He’s been banned from the premises of multiple Atlanta businesses. Some Midtown residents try to avoid him. Police recognize him on sight, which hardly comes as a surprise.
Tiffany Hendricks bears a dubious distinction: He’s been arrested 80 times.
Roughly 30 times, he’s been accused of criminal trespass — that is, showing up places where he’s not wanted, according to Fulton County jail records. Homeless for nearly three decades, Hendricks struggles with addiction and says he sometimes hears voices.
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Almost 20 times, the 48-year-old has been booked for public indecency, which in some cases involved flashing his private parts to passing motorists. Another 10 times or so, he was picked up for drug possession. On several occasions, he’s been accused of burglary.
On top of all of that, more than 100 times he’s also been accused of municipal code infractions — violations that often don’t include a trip to jail, things such as drinking in public, running afoul of MARTA passenger conduct rules, being disorderly while under the influence. Over and over, he didn’t show up at court.
Hendricks and others like him present a conundrum for law enforcement and communities: What do you do with people who have underlying issues that contribute to them repeatedly and frequently breaking the law?
In January, Atlanta police officers responded to a call at the closed Hudson Grille on Peachtree Street. When they arrived, they found the burglary alarm blaring and Hendricks nearby.
He was arrested for allegedly stealing six bottles of alcohol from the restaurant. “I didn’t do nothing wrong,” he insisted to the arresting officer.
Later, another officer peered into the back seat of the patrol car. A handcuffed Hendricks peered back.
“Really?” the lawman said to other officers in earshot. “Hey, I arrested him like a month ago.”
Dropped cases
There are many repeat offenders in metro Atlanta. But only 16 people charged in the city last year had more total arrests than Hendricks, according to a police spokesperson, including one man with 147.Nothing that police, jailers, prosecutors, courts, counselors and social workers do seems to make a difference in Hendricks’ trajectory. He’s been in rehab programs about 15 times, by his own count, including twice last year.
Out of the last 25 years, he was behind bars around 2,100 days — roughly five and a half years, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution review of local jail and state corrections records shows.
Two cases against Hendricks were dropped this year, one because a police officer didn’t show up for a hearing and one because a prosecutor didn’t. When cases have gone through, judges have often sentenced Hendricks to the time he already served in jail while he awaited trial. Sometimes, they’ve ordered him to go into drug intervention programs rather than spend more time in a cell.
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Many prosecutors and judges tend to focus on putting violent felons away and are often less inclined to pack crowded prisons and jails with offenders whose crimes may be tied to mental health problems, addictions or homelessness, because they believe incarceration won’t help much.
Repeat offenders can be subject to stricter penalties under Georgia law. But again, typically, violent offenders are most targeted.
This year, Georgia’s law changed to expand the number of offenses that will require cash bails, making it harder for defendants awaiting trial to be released if they don’t have money or property.
Asked by a WSB-TV reporter about Hendricks’ long criminal history, Atlanta Police Department Chief Darin Schierbaum suggested there’s only so much police can do.
“I don’t know if those who are making sentencing decisions just don’t have the facts like the police department does or know the impact Mr. Hendricks has on the community,” Schierbaum told the outlet.
“When we make an arrest, it should never be to lock a person up and throw away the key. It should be to get them help for whatever’s causing them to offend in our neighborhoods. And I think there’s been opportunities missed, time and time again, by the courts and by the programs that are supposed to be assisting Mr. Hendricks and those that are supposed to be monitoring his compliance. It’s not happening.”
The police department referred questions about Hendricks’ prosecutions to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. Spokespeople for the DA did not respond to messages left.
People who have been jailed numerous times often struggle with significant mental health issues, serious substance addictions or both, said Moki Macias, the executive director for the local nonprofit Policing Alternatives & Diversion Initiative.
More efforts are underway to create alternatives to calling on law enforcement when a person with mental health or substance abuse issues steps out of line. In Atlanta, residents can dial 311 and a team will be dispatched to try to de-escalate the situation and steer the person to other resources. But the service isn’t available around the clock, and the teams don’t attempt to force the person to do something he or she doesn’t want to do.
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