Posted on 06/13/2014 8:39:25 AM PDT by Rusty0604
PHILADELPHIA – A growing number of Americans are expressing outrage that a Pennsylvania mother of seven died in jail last weekend while serving a 48-hour sentence over unpaid, school truancy-related fines.
DiNinoEileen DiNino, 55, was found dead last Saturday in her jail cell. Authorities don’t know the cause of death yet, they have ruled out suspicious behavior.
DiNino was being penalized because several of her children routinely missed school. According to the Associated Press, “She had racked up $2,000 in fines, fees and court costs since 1999...
The fines related to school truancy are quite small – perhaps $20 – but it’s the court-related costs that are most expensive, sometimes reaching $150. Such costs add up quickly and make it nigh impossible for low-income parents to pay.
In the county where DiNino lived, roughly 110 parents of truant students are jailed every year.
Americans of all political stripes are denouncing the practice and likening it to the debtor’s prisons from the nation’s Colonial days.
(Excerpt) Read more at eagnews.org ...
I saw that on TV; outrageous!
The schools don’t get their funding if kids aren’t present so that is the reason they fine and put people in jail. It’s all about the money, not the kids.
The only reason the schools care about attendance is they want to get their full funding.
By fining them? What do you then do when they don’t pay the fines?
I could be wrong but I believe another article I read stated that she was asked to produce evidence that she couldn’t pay it to court but she didn’t.
This article does not address that if it’s true.
There should be a way for an economically disadvantaged individual to work off the fees. Cut the school,lawn, or something.
Fifteen years of truancy is the time covering several children through their total school years. No one ever knew this family needed help? Maybe they did, nothing helped...State, church, family ?? Everything failed this woman...
Don't us conservatives insist that that should be the PARENTS' job?
Perhaps since she isn't a fit parent, the kids should be removed to foster care. But then, there'd be screeching from that action.
If fact, there'd be screeching about ANY action taken.
I guess we should just leave unfit parents in charge of children to do with as they will.
Finally some logic here. All the “lock her up” tough guys would probably suck their thumbs like little babies if thrown in jail.
BINGO!!! You win the prize for the day!
this 55 yo woman died her second day in jail, where she was because the govt put her there. To me, THAT is suspicious and coincidentally dying suddenly just doesn’t seem as likely.
Bankruptcy laws are in the constitution. So if you would welcome debtors prisons you think that part of the constitution should be thrown out? What other parts do you not agree with? Where in the constitution does it make it mandatory to send your child to school?
I seem to remember that going back at least to the 50s and before that; if truancy was a problem then the truant kid was sent to reform school, not the parent. If the penalty doesn’t fall on the truant kids then there is no reason for them to do other than let their parents take the hits.
She was 55, that’s not exactly a young chicken. That’s about the age that somebody can die from a stroke or heart attack if unduly stressed.
Jail, for the unaccustomed, would define as unduly stressed.
However, libtard courts have in many cases declared those checks to be inalienable rights which cannot be touched. Years ago, I worked in Californistan when an employee bounced a sizable check on our business just before quitting. We weren't even allowed to deduct the amount of that check from her last paycheck.
Such is the logic of libtard la-la land-- you can jail or even kill somebody which owes their government master some money, but you can't withhold it from their check!
It took 31 posts to get to the underlying truth here: the system is set up to maximize the number of government employees the economy can “carry”... And they are always pushing the envelope on that score.
Being locked up is no small thing! Were is the compassion on this thread. Are her kids now going to Foster Homes? How many here have live in foster homes? This did not have to happen.
Ditto everything you stated.
I find many Freepers believe the only way to deal with troubled people, or the scofflaws is to terrorize them into being obedient. It’s as if, for these Freepers, that trying to help people build foundations in life is not something that should be done.
I question the official story.
The unions would NEVER allow that. Their members have a right to those jobs. Parents aren’t even allowed to volunteer at schools if it means cutting into a union member job. That’s the way it was at the union where I worked.
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