They choose the poorest.

Public defenders will tell their clients "you can't afford to plea innocent", even if they're innocent.

That's because courts run on anecdotal evidence and confirmation bias.

The whole "hard on crime" campaign is performative, because it's a misdirect from the failed economic and social policies made by politicians, in both the Democrat and the Republican parties.

The funny and very sad fact is how some of these politicians made campaign ad videos, claiming "politician X is soft on crime and wants revolving door prisons", when they create more criminals with the prison system. They take away breadwinners from their family to wait for their second trial (the first being a trial the sets the date for the actual court date, a judicial hack so they can say people have "a right to a speedy trial") - which can be months spent in jail, leaving families without an income... and they also claim to the "pro-family". Gtfo here with that bullshit.

Then the private penal prison system is designed to break people down psychologically, so that either A) they become "reformed", i.e so traumatised and mindfucked that they will accept their new social status once they get out (no vote, on lists, have to bend over and kiss the boot that destroyed their lives) or B) they become repeat customers, i.e they are justifiably angry at society and don't give AF about laws, or so mindfucked that they only know prison life and want to return to the slave farm...

Because, and this is important,

the US penal prison systems are slave farms

That's why it isn't just CRT anymore, but CRT helped to pave the way to this ultimate horror show that is also normal in authoritarian states, like Russia. The US prison system isn't as bad as the goulags, but fuck me if they ain't competing.

Yeah, they pick out the easiest person to pin a crime on/extract a false confession from.