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A 61-year-old Black grandmother was arrested on a misdemeanor trespassing charge and held in jail for five months. Now Janice Dotson-Stephens has died in the custody of the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) Friday KSAT confirmed.

Dotson-Stephens had been held in jail since July on a $300 bond for an arrest July 17 on a misdemeanor charge of trespassing on private property her first brush with the law according to Bexar County Court records. BCSO officials told KSAT that the grandmother had been held at the infirmary at the annex detention center. She appeared to have died from natural causes.

Since Dotson-Stephens bail was $300 most bail bond companies require a 10 percent payment to bail the inmate out of jail. There she could have been set free for $30.

Dotson-Stephens refused to be interviewed about her case the day after she was arrested and again on four straight days in July, KSAT reports. Then she refused once more on Aug. 4. Then on Aug. 8, a court-appointed attorney was assigned to her case. When she refused to make a court appearance on Aug. 17 she was ordered to have a psychological evaluation on Aug. 27.

Family members of Dotson-Stephens said they were not aware she was in jail. They believed she was being treated at a state hospital.

Her daughter-in-law, Leticia Dotson, told KSAT that she and her husband were hurt to find out that Dotson-Stephens died in jail.

“We just felt that she shouldn’t have died as a criminal in the jailhouse,” Dotson said. “She wasn’t a criminal. She had a mental health illness.”

Dotson said her mother-in-law had a history of mental illness. She went on to say, none of her mother-in-law’s family members had been contacted, something she thinks could have saved her life.

“If it changed and we had to bail her out before the process of getting her to the state hospital, we would have done that,” Dotson said. “She had people who loved her and family who would have easily paid the $30 to get her out of jail if that’s what we had to do to take the next step.”

Bexar County officials said on Monday they couldn’t confirm if Dotson-Stephens was diagnosed with a mental health condition.

The incident caught the attention of California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris who tweeted about the tragic occurrence.

A woman was held in jail for six months because she couldn’t afford to pay her $300 bond. She just died in custody. This is tragic and exactly why we need to reform our money bail system. https://t.co/FAQEoUQYVp — Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) December 18, 2018

“A woman was held in jail for six months because she couldn’t afford to pay her $300 bond. She just died in custody. This is tragic and exactly why we need to reform our money bail system,” Harris wrote.

The Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division and the Bexar County Medical Examiner are investigating the death along with the Converse Police Department.

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