Posted on 10/04/2010 1:04:11 PM PDT by JoeProBono
NEW YORK, - Debt imprisonment is rising in America as poor people unable to pay fees are jailed, two advocacy groups said Monday.
Reports by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Brennan Center for Justice say many states across the country, strapped for funds, are aggressively going after poor people who have already served their criminal sentences. This makes it harder for them to re-enter society and ultimately costs much more.
"Incarcerating people simply because they cannot afford to pay their legal debts is not only unconstitutional but also has a devastating impact upon men and women, whose only crime is that they are poor," said Eric Balaban, senior staff attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project.
The ACLU report, "In for a Penny: The Rise of America's New Debtors' Prisons," and the Brennan Center report, "The Hidden Cost of Criminal Justice Debt," found that states and counties are imposing financial penalties on defendants beyond their criminal sentences as a way to raise revenue.
Incarcerating indigent defendants for failing to pay legal debts ends up costing states and counties much more than they can ever hope to recover, the ACLU said.
For once the ACLU gets it right. It is inexcusable and should be illegal to throw anyone in jail just for owing money, especially when law enforcement has plenty of real, dangerous criminals with which it could be dealing.
I thought there was no such thing as “debtor’s prison” in the US.
As usual, it’s legal sleight of hand and word games. You go into debt, they eventually file a lawsuit, you don’t show up because you’re too broke and depressed, and now you’ve got a bench warrant against you. Next time you’re pulled over for any driving infraction, you go straight to jail. Want to get out of jail before the trial on your earlier non-appearance charge? Well what do you know, the bail amount is exactly what you owed the original creditor.
Stopped clock. On this one I’m with the ACLU. I’m also against the laws that eliminated usury interest limits for the banks, and for the laws that made people unable to fully bankrupt out of credit card debt. Put them all together and think about the situation. Desperate people can be charged any amount of interest. They cannot fully bankrupt out. And for certain types of debts they can be jailed. Lovely isn’t it?
Can you explain to me why taking property (not just real estate) and not paying is different than theft?
I’m sure there’s more to the story. It’s either a failure to pay taxes, or failure to pay restitution as ordered by a court.
The operative phrase here is “criminal sentences.” They took money, served the time, and aren’t paying it back.
It is probably more accurate to say they are jailed for comtempt of court than money owed.
The ACLU and their ‘half lies’ - when will they ever learn?
Some states and counties have particularly insidious penalties reserved for the poor: To make up for budget shortfalls, some counties in Georgia aggressively pursue fines and fees in their traffic courts, and refer those defendants who cannot immediately pay to private probation supervision companies, which charge monthly fees that often double or triple the amount of money a probationer would have paid had he or she been able to afford the fine.
Also some jails are charging booking and daily room and board fees. It's ridiculous.
Ah here we go, I knew I had seen a thread here on it earlier
In Illinois and southwest Indiana, some judges jail debtors for missing court-ordered debt payments. In extreme cases, people stay in jail until they raise a minimum payment. In January, a judge sentenced a Kenney, Ill., man “to indefinite incarceration” until he came up with $300 toward a lumber yard debt.
“The law enforcement system has unwittingly become a tool of the debt collectors,” said Michael Kinkley, an attorney in Spokane, Wash., who has represented arrested debtors. “The debt collectors are abusing the system and intimidating people, and law enforcement is going along with it.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2536331/posts
IOW, you are jailed for not showing up in court. That actually makes sense.
I do not trust the ACLU and never will......
” So if a drunk driver with no insurance runs into to you, maims you for life and destroys your property it’s unfair to make him pay restitution?”
I’m not sure they are talking about restutution. Restutution is always a condition of probation. VOP’s are ther result of failing to pay. I think they are talking court costs and fees. These are civil matters.
“but didn’t he “pay” society with his imprisonment?”
No. He didn’t.
The sentence was to do the time AND pay the restitution. The person you describe has done only half.
I would think (imagine) that he can substitute X amount of extra jail time for the restitution.
Sounds fair to me.
There’s no profit in arguing with the ACLU when they’re right. I mean, it doesn’t happen often....
Have any of the people involved been convicted of theft? If yes then by all means put them in jail or prison. But the last I checked welching on a debt was still a civil concern, not a criminal one.
It ends when he pays off his debt.
Prison is PUNISHMENT. The convict’s debt isn’t paid when he get out of prison. Think about a kid breaking a window. Being grounded or whatever, doesn’t “pay the debt.” Its punishment. The debt isn’t paid until the window is fixed or the owner is compensated for the window. A convict’s debt is paid when the victim is compensated and/or he has demonstrated he can live in civil society without being a threat.
That’s why I don’t buy into the “restore ex-cons’ voting and Second Amendment rights cr@p.”
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