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Poor Land in Jail as Companies Add Huge Fees for Probation

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  • Poor Land in Jail as Companies Add Huge Fees for Probation

    We grouse about Obamacare not being constitutional. Here's a practice that is blatantly unconstitutional.

    "Richard Earl Garrett is the lead plaintiff in a class action suit against the town of Harpersville, Ala. Mr. Garrett has spent a total of 24 months in jail and owes $10,000, all for traffic and license violations that began a decade ago."



    By ETHAN BRONNER
    Published: July 2, 2012 620 Comments
    The New York Times

    CHILDERSBURG, Ala. — Three years ago, Gina Ray, who is now 31 and unemployed, was fined $179 for speeding. She failed to show up at court (she says the ticket bore the wrong date), so her license was revoked.
    .

    Childersburg turned to the private sector for probation.

    When she was next pulled over, she was, of course, driving without a license. By then her fees added up to more than $1,500. Unable to pay, she was handed over to a private probation company and jailed — charged an additional fee for each day behind bars.

    For that driving offense, Ms. Ray has been locked up three times for a total of 40 days and owes $3,170, much of it to the probation company. Her story, in hardscrabble, rural Alabama, where Krispy Kreme promises that “two can dine for $5.99,” is not about innocence.

    It is, rather, about the mushrooming of fines and fees levied by money-starved towns across the country and the for-profit businesses that administer the system. The result is that growing numbers of poor people, like Ms. Ray, are ending up jailed and in debt for minor infractions.

    “With so many towns economically strapped, there is growing pressure on the courts to bring in money rather than mete out justice,” said Lisa W. Borden, a partner in Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, a large law firm in Birmingham, Ala., who has spent a great deal of time on the issue. “The companies they hire are aggressive. Those arrested are not told about the right to counsel or asked whether they are indigent or offered an alternative to fines and jail. There are real constitutional issues at stake.”

    Half a century ago in a landmark case, the Supreme Court ruled that those accused of crimes had to be provided a lawyer if they could not afford one. But in misdemeanors, the right to counsel is rarely brought up, even though defendants can run the risk of jail. The probation companies promise revenue to the towns, while saying they also help offenders, and the defendants often end up lost in a legal Twilight Zone.

    Here in Childersburg, where there is no public transportation, Ms. Ray has plenty of company in her plight. Richard Garrett has spent a total of 24 months in jail and owes $10,000, all for traffic and license violations that began a decade ago. A onetime employee of United States Steel, Mr. Garrett is suffering from health difficulties and is without work. William M. Dawson, a Birmingham lawyer and Democratic Party activist, has filed a lawsuit for Mr. Garrett and others against the local authorities and the probation company, Judicial Correction Services, which is based in Georgia.

    “The Supreme Court has made clear that it is unconstitutional to jail people just because they can’t pay a fine,” Mr. Dawson said in an interview.

    In Georgia, three dozen for-profit probation companies operate in hundreds of courts, and there have been similar lawsuits. In one, Randy Miller, 39, an Iraq war veteran who had lost his job, was jailed after failing to make child support payments of $860 a month. In another, Hills McGee, with a monthly income of $243 in veterans benefits, was charged with public drunkenness, assessed $270 by a court and put on probation through a private company. The company added a $15 enrollment fee and $39 in monthly fees. That put his total for a year above $700, which Mr. McGee, 53, struggled to meet before being jailed for failing to pay it all.

    “These companies are bill collectors, but they are given the authority to say to someone that if he doesn’t pay, he is going to jail,” said John B. Long, a lawyer in Augusta, Ga., who is taking the issue to a federal appeals court this fall. “There are things like garbage collection where private companies are O.K. No one’s liberty is affected. The closer you get to locking someone up, the closer you get to a constitutional issue.”

    The issue of using the courts to produce income has caught the attention of the country’s legal establishment. A recent study by the nonpartisan Conference of State Court Administrators, “Courts Are Not Revenue Centers,” said that in traffic violations, “court leaders face the greatest challenge in ensuring that fines, fees and surcharges are not simply an alternate form of taxation.”

    J. Scott Vowell, the presiding judge of Alabama’s 10th Judicial Circuit, said in an interview that his state’s Legislature, like many across the country, was pressuring courts to produce revenue, and that some legislators even believed courts should be financially self-sufficient.

    In a 2010 study, the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law examined the fee structure in the 15 states — including California, Florida and Texas — with the largest prison populations. It asserted: “Many states are imposing new and often onerous ‘user fees’ on individuals with criminal convictions. Yet far from being easy money, these fees impose severe — and often hidden — costs on communities, taxpayers and indigent people convicted of crimes. They create new paths to prison for those unable to pay their debts and make it harder to find employment and housing as well as to meet child support obligations.”

    Most of those fees are for felonies and do not involve private probation companies, which have so far been limited to chasing those guilty of misdemeanors. A decade or two ago, many states abandoned pursuing misdemeanor fees because it was time-consuming and costly. Companies like Judicial Correction Services saw an opportunity. They charge public authorities nothing and make their money by adding fees onto the bills of the defendants.

    Stephen B. Bright, president of the Southern Center for Human Rights, who teaches at Yale Law School, said courts were increasingly using fees “for such things as the retirement funds for various court officials, law enforcement functions such as police training and crime laboratories, victim assistance programs and even the court’s computer system.” He added, “In one county in Pennsylvania, 26 different fees totaling $2,500 are assessed in addition to the fine.”

    Mr. Dawson’s Alabama lawsuit alleges that Judicial Correction Services does not discuss alternatives to fines or jail and that its training manual “is devoid of any discussion of indigency or waiver of fees.”

    In a joint telephone interview, two senior officials of Judicial Correction Services, Robert H. McMichael, its chief executive, and Kevin Egan, its chief marketing officer, rejected the lawsuit’s accusations. They said that the company does try to help those in need, but that the authority to determine who is indigent rests with the court, not the company.

    “We hear a lot of ‘I can’t pay the fee,’ ” Mr. Egan said. “It is not our job to figure that out. Only the judge can make that determination.” Mr. Egan said his company had doubled the number of completed sentences where it is employed to more than two-thirds, from about one-third, and that this serves the company, the towns and the defendant. “Our job is to keep people out of jail,” he said. “We have a financial interest in getting them to comply. If they don’t pay, we don’t get paid.”

    Mr. Bright, of the Southern Center for Human Rights, said that with the private companies seeking a profit, with courts in need of income and with the most vulnerable caught up in the system, “we end up balancing the budget on the backs of the poorest people in society.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/us...agewanted=2&hp
    To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato

  • #2
    for private companies like that to jail someone, is complete and utter BS.. those people that #1 start them and #2 enforce them should be considered felons (when proven in a court that's not the kangaroo courts that run them) and the enforcers (kangaroo courts) disbarred and never allowed to practice law again.

    amazing, how they are proud of the fines they collect..

    Whether your court is looking for a comprehensive solution to recidivism or just a boost in the fine collections, Judicial Correction Services has the experience to create and implement a system of supervision that works for your court.
    Last edited by dundonrl; 05 Jul 12,, 07:24.

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    • #3
      1. Why are these towns strapped for cash?

      2. Who arrests these people to put them in jail? Anyone other than the police coming to my house to arrest me will get shot.
      "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

      Comment


      • #4
        us marshal can arrest you, bounty hunters can arrrest you.
        "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" B. Franklin

        Comment


        • #5
          It should be noted that probation companies in Georgia do NOT operate jails or anything like that, but instead provide technical support to supervising house arrest (i.e. electronic tagging, drug testing, overseeing community service etc). There are - according to their industry association - currently about 260,000 people per year under supervision of private probation companies in Georgia alone (about 150,000 felons concurrently). Georgia (the GDC) does have three private prisons operated by two companies though, currently housing about 5,400 inmates out of a total prison population of 60,000.

          If you want to compare it internationally, the above is pretty comparable in numbers with Germany. Which has over eight times the population of Georgia. And neither private prisons nor private probation companies.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by omon View Post
            us marshal can arrest you, bounty hunters can arrrest you.
            They count as the police or the sheriff. I will shoot bounty hunters.
            "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

            Comment


            • #7
              Guess what who's behind most of the initiatives? Mostly by politicians elected by the Tea Party, the great party that is supposed to protect our individual liberties and right. Yeah, right how is that working out?

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Blademaster View Post
                Guess what who's behind most of the initiatives? Mostly by politicians elected by the Tea Party, the great party that is supposed to protect our individual liberties and right. Yeah, right how is that working out?
                What initiatives? Have you got a source.

                There are 66 Republican members of Congress in the Tea Party Caucus out of 535 total member of Congress. What initiatives did the Tea Party get through Congress?

                Besides what they stand for isn't all that radical.

                About Tea Party Patriots | Tea Party Patriots

                OUR CORE PRINCIPLES

                FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY means not overspending, and not burdening our children and grandchildren with our bills. In the words of Thomas Jefferson: “the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity [is] swindling futurity on a large scale.” A more fiscally responsible government will take fewer taxes from our paychecks.

                CONSTITUTIONALLY LIMITED GOVERNMENT means power resides with the people and not with the government. Governing should be done at the most local level possible where it can be held accountable. America’s founders believed that government power should be limited, enumerated, and constrained by our Constitution. Tea Party Patriots agree. The American people make this country great, not our government.

                FREE MARKET ECONOMICS made America an economic superpower that for at least two centuries provided subsequent generations of Americans more opportunities and higher standards of living. An erosion of our free markets through government intervention is at the heart of America’s current economic decline, stagnating jobs, and spiraling debt and deficits. Failures in government programs and government-controlled financial markets helped spark the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Further government interventions and takeovers have made this Great Recession longer and deeper. A renewed focus on free markets will lead to a more vibrant economy creating jobs and higher standards of living for future generations.

                To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by gunnut View Post
                  They count as the police or the sheriff. I will shoot bounty hunters.
                  If bounty hunters/ skip tracers are coming after you they have a lot more freedom to use force to arrest you than the police do. Anyone they are after has already agreed to be arrested without cause at any time for any reason (contractual right of arrest US v Sheriff) and that old saying dead or alive is alive and well if push comes to shove. The courts will accept a body as well as a live person. Its long settled case law that a person who is fleeing has no protections afforded to their life or person.

                  No knock warrants lmao- how about no knock just kick the door in, or grab you at work, at the store, from behind with no warning... I've gone on recovery missions against violent felons- we didn't play, we even had k9's.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by zraver View Post
                    If bounty hunters/ skip tracers are coming after you they have a lot more freedom to use force to arrest you than the police do. Anyone they are after has already agreed to be arrested without cause at any time for any reason (contractual right of arrest US v Sheriff) and that old saying dead or alive is alive and well if push comes to shove. The courts will accept a body as well as a live person. Its long settled case law that a person who is fleeing has no protections afforded to their life or person.

                    No knock warrants lmao- how about no knock just kick the door in, or grab you at work, at the store, from behind with no warning... I've gone on recovery missions against violent felons- we didn't play, we even had k9's.
                    Have you done any of those things against people who had traffic tickets? Which seems to be the central point of this thread.
                    "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Blademaster View Post
                      Guess what who's behind most of the initiatives? Mostly by politicians elected by the Tea Party, the great party that is supposed to protect our individual liberties and right. Yeah, right how is that working out?
                      Two can play this game.

                      Obama said he would close Gitmo prison camp within 1 year of his election. How's that working out?

                      Obama said he would go through the budget line by line and cut anything that's unnecessary. How's that working out?

                      Obama said his would be the most transparent administration ever. How's that working out?

                      Obama said his stimulus plan would keep unemployment from going over 8%. How's that working out?

                      I can source my claims. How about you?
                      "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by gunnut View Post
                        Have you done any of those things against people who had traffic tickets? Which seems to be the central point of this thread.
                        Nope, generally traffic tickets dont end up in arrests.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          sure they do, miss a court date, and next day warrant for your arrest is out automaticly. have seen it myself many times.

                          not all traffic tickets, you can check guilty box on the back, send a payment and be done.
                          for some, you must come to court, wheather you plead guilty or not.
                          Last edited by omon; 06 Jul 12,, 17:29.
                          "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" B. Franklin

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by zraver View Post
                            Nope, generally traffic tickets dont end up in arrests.
                            See, that's where the outrage seems to be for are article in this thread. No one cares if a violent fellon gets arrested and put in jail. People are probably happy about it.

                            Originally posted by omon View Post
                            sure they do, miss a court date, and next day warrant for your arrest is out automaticly. have seen it myself many times.

                            not all traffic tickets, you can check guilty box on the back, send a payment and be done.
                            for some, you must come to court, wheather you plead guilty or not.
                            Right, the arrest warrant is issued for someone who has missed traffic tickets or didn't bother to show up at a trial. But the police don't go out of their way to arrest someone for traffic tickets or parking tickets. It's simply a note attached to the name in the system. The next time a cop pulls over someone matching the name, this note comes up and the cop can arrest the guy at that time.
                            "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Once this is pervasive and mainstream wakes up it can be a very very very painful blowback scenario. Just need someone to market the resolution publicly and steer the public opinion in a way that detonates the outcomes for those whom set it up.

                              This whole setup reecks of debt servitude in England but more over it is parasitism of private contractors on the back of that debt servitude a la buying/selling of debt servitude of those people.

                              I wonder if there will ever be a Supreme Court case a la jurstinction and enforcement of these 'fees' and then individuals jailed for them. My thoughts revolve around simply individual non-compliance and the severity with which that non-compliance occurs. Furthermore communally and local outcries and perhaps legislation that gradually turns the tide via at least 1 state level to bar private companies from fee enrichment. The reality is of course this has to come from the bottom up and needs a few cases that are pushed by interested parties with money or some sort of network effect to destroy the parasitic system from growing.
                              Originally from Sochi, Russia.

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