HILLSBORO • A man jailed for 37 days without a court hearing won $75,000 from the two counties that erroneously kept him behind bars.

Mike Bauer of St. Louis was arrested in 2009 when he applied for a job in the St. Louis Forestry Division; a background check incorrectly reported that he was wanted on a court order stemming from a child-support case in Jefferson County.

Such orders are similar to warrants in criminal cases. But these orders, unlike misdemeanors or felonies, do not require an appearance by the accused before a judge within 48 hours.

Bauer, who was working as a dishwasher at that time, said Thursday that he couldn't afford a lawyer and that his repeated vows of innocence fell on deaf ears while in jail.

"What can you do? You sit there and wait it out," said Bauer, 41. While waiting, he lost his job and his apartment. He was homeless for several months, he said.

The ACLU of Eastern Missouri filed suit on behalf of Bauer against the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, as well as that of Madison County, Mo., where Bauer was held for 10 days because of crowding in the Hillsboro jail.

Magistrate Judge Terry Adelman of the U.S. District Court in St. Louis ruled Wednesday that the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department must release those arrested on such orders within 27 hours, except on weekends and holidays, if they do not appear before a judge.

He also ordered the county to develop a process to make sure voided orders are removed from police databases.

"As long as I've got a couple of judges willing to step up to the plate and assist me in this so the individuals are getting seen by the judges in a timely period, I think we're going to be fine," said Jefferson County Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Lisa Page, the county's presiding judge, said Bauer's case was an anomaly and the result of a clerical error. But she welcomed a new system in which the sheriff's office keeps her court informed of who needs a court date. Formerly, the court had to check on new inmates, which is how Bauer was overlooked.

"We're working very hard to prevent someone from being incarcerated who should not be incarcerated," Page said.

Tony Rothert, legal director for the ACLU of Eastern Missouri and one of three attorneys who represented Bauer, said Jefferson County might have improperly detained as many as 500 others in the last five years. He said the ACLU was looking at detention policies in other counties.

Other counties should take note of the federal judge's order and review their procedures, said Peter Joy, a Washington University law professor. If Bauer could have afforded an attorney, he almost certainly would have been released sooner, Joy said:

"If anybody had taken a closer look, they would have determined they didn't have any authority to be holding him."