It's no secret that the "land of the free" also holds the title for "land of the incarcerated". America tends to lock up its citizens as if it's an Olympic sport, with the ever-so competitive China, holding the silver medal. With 2.3 million Yankees behind bars—that's one in every 100 Americans—false imprisonment is bound to exist. Now if your paper's right, an elite legal team will likely break you free. But relying on public defenders? Yikes!
The recent false arrest of world-renowned intellectual, Henry Louis Gates Jr., highlights the racial profiling and other disturbing trends in the judicial system. Unjust detainment happens daily and reaches back to the nation's birth. But here's some recent cases of false arrests that makes one wonder how many of those 2.3 million on lock down are actually guilty...Â
 
5. Rev. Henderson L. Brome, Milton, Mass. 2004
Before Harvard's Professor Gates was wrongfully detained in his home, Massachusetts po-po were shoving priests into squad cars out of sheer racial profiling. Brome, a black Reverend who had recently moved to Milton, was taking a morning stroll with a walking stick when authorities arrested him for resembling the description of a car-theft suspect. Brome later explained:Â "I tried to tell him I lived on the street. He wasn't interested... All he saw was a black man."Â The city eventually settled with the Reverend for $50,000.
 1. Henry Louis Gates Jr., Boston, Mass, 2009
Dear Beantown Police: you know fucked up, right? When authorities brought Professor Gates downtown on charges of essentially breaking into his own building, they didn't realize they were messing with one of President Obama's "bout it, bout it" collegiate comrades. While most similar cases of racial profiling would likely go unreported, Gates' social status made the false arrest "newsworthy". It's about time.
