Instead, Wurtzel, who also had been convicted of sexual battery in a previous case, found a better option: For $100 a night, he was permitted by the court to avoid county jail entirely. He did his time in the small jail in the nearby city of Seal Beach, with amenities that included flat-screen TVs, a computer room and new beds. He served six months, at a cost of $18,250, according to jail records.

In what is commonly called “pay-to-stay” or “private jail,” a constellation of small city jails — at least 26 of them in Los Angeles and Orange counties — open their doors to defendants who can afford the option. But what started out as an antidote to overcrowding has evolved into a two-tiered justice system that allows people convicted of serious crimes to buy their way into safer and more comfortable jail stays.

A group of mental health professionals claiming President Donald Trump is too mentally ill to serve has taken fire not just from Trump supporters — but also from those in their own field.
The organization’s members, however, remain steadfast in their belief that Trump is a potential hazard to the American people.

Gartner is a founding member of Duty to Warn, an organization of mental health professionals who think Trump is mentally unfit to be president. The group will have its first conference 11 a.m. Thursday at Yale University’s Sterling Hall of Medicine.

Gartner and other members of Duty to Warn are lobbying members of Congress to remove Trump from office due to lack of mental fitness. Though a petition supporting this effort has garnered 41,000 signatures, Gartner said the effort has gotten little traction among legislators.

As some prominent psychiatrists have noted, (Trump’s mental health) is the elephant in the room,” Lee said. “I think the public is really starting to catch on and widely talk about this now.”

A Russian government think tank controlled by Vladimir Putin developed a plan to swing the 2016 U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump and undermine voters’ faith in the American electoral system, three current and four former U.S. officials told Reuters.