Plea coercion is the dirty secret of the U.S. justice system. Most people in prison didn’t get justice — they were broken into signing a deal. Charges are stacked sky-high to create fear. People are thrown into brutal conditions while they wait: isolation, humiliation, sleep deprivation, denied visits. Then they’re told a trial will mean dying in prison. The plea becomes the only “lifeline.”
90–95% of convictions come from plea deals, not trials. That’s not justice — that’s pressure. People don’t sign because they’re guilty; they sign because the system breaks them. If innocence mattered, evidence wouldn’t be blocked, trials wouldn’t be punishment, and defenders wouldn’t juggle 200 cases. This is not justice. It’s control. It’s human trafficking through paperwork.