Jailed man didn't know bail was set at $2, so he spent months in prison
Aitabdel Salem walked into a Zara store in Manhattan on Nov. 21, 2014, and reportedly tried to steal a coat. When a police officer confronted him, Salem allegedly attacked the officer, and for that he was thrown in jail and given a $25,000 bail.
But prosecutors couldn't put enough evidence together to indict Salem, so his bail dropped all the way down to $2, a buck for each of two minor offenses he was still charged with.
The path out of jail was now simple enough, but nobody told him about the change.
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So Salem sat on Rikers Island, behind bars for around five months without knowing he was 200 pennies away from freedom, according to The New York Daily News.
When Salem finally did get out of jail, it was only to soon be brought back.
He missed a court date the following month and was accused of jumping bail, though he was acquitted of that charge last week after his lawyer showed the court that a letter sent to Salem with the court date was marked "return to sender."
But Salem is reportedly still on Rikers.
His bail, for now, is set at $30,000 due to the missed court date, and he's also facing two mischief and tampering charges from the time he allegedly messed with a subway card machine in 2014.
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Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
