Lawsuits: St. Louis County town jails are ‘debtors’ prisons’

Associated Press ^ | Feb 9, 2015 5:59 PM EST | Jim Salter

[Olog-hai]

Federal lawsuits allege that jails in the St. Louis County towns of Ferguson and Jennings operate essentially as modern-day debtors’ prisons, where minor traffic offenses can lead to extended periods behind bars.

Two lawsuits were filed Sunday on behalf of people who have spent time in jail for failure to pay fines for traffic violations and minor offenses. The suits representing 11 people jailed in Ferguson and nine in Jennings were filed by the nonprofit Equal Justice Under Law of Washington, the St. Louis nonprofit ArchCity Defenders, and Saint Louis University School of Law. …

[glorgau]

IANAL but it sounds like a plausible legal theory.

[Chode]

got a ticket when i was young for not wearing s DOT approved helmet, i told the judge to put me in jail as i had more time than money

he said that would cost the county more money than it was worth and if i promised not to wear the helmet in his jurisdiction again, he'd let me go

i told him Yer Honor, i promise not to get caught wearing that helmet in your jurisdiction again...

he simply shook his head and told me to get out

[Milton Miteybad]

Really? When they're offering community service alternatives and payment plans (which is something most cities/counties offer in one form or another?)

They don't really want to lock anybody up. That costs the city or county money. What you probably have are people who never bothered to communicate with the judge's office about a payment plan or any alternative, so the city/county issues warrants for their arrest. Then the defendants claim indigence and wail about being locked up in a debtors' prison, when they could have avoided it all merely by making (and adhering to) some kind of payment arrangement with the city or county.

[Jonty30]

I can’t speak for tho particular county, but in my jurisdiction, they don’t accept partial payments. You either pay the whole fine or do community service, which could impact your ability to hold a job.

[virgil283]

My cousin was arrested and held in jail until his parents came up with several thousands of dollars for back alimony...but I guess that doesn’t apply since a woman was the victim.

[Eagles6]

Whoa Dude! Yer talkin’ personal responsibility! That’s a Christian Eurocentric White Heterosexual Male Constitutonalist paradigm which is not compatible with the fundamental transformation of America!

[sickoflibs]

Child support orders are slavery.
Private slavery just like before the civil war,
Many black men are learning that the hard way

[Blackirish]

In Chicago its 3 payments $250.00 total for riding bike on sidewalk or tossing cigarette. Locking folks up for nothing while Gangster Disciples killing every day

[Milton Miteybad]

I'm sure there are exceptions...but having dealt with hundreds of county governments over the years, one common complaint they all seem to share during recessionary times is that they're spending money they don't have locking people up because the defendants don't have the money to pay the fines, either in full or in part. And, by and large, they'd rather have the defendant enter into a payment agreement than have to spend money to lock him up and feed him.

The linked article even highlighted the fact that both jurisdictions in question offered payment plans and would at least consider community service as an alternative to payment of a fine. Neither are unusual procedures (no matter how they choose to handle it in your own neighborhood.)

Then it's just a matter of the defendant availing him/herself of those alternatives, and doing so in good faith. Guess what? The people who ended up in jail are the ones who 1) didn't (or couldn't) pay their fine and 2) didn't bother to talk to the city/county about the matter.

Those failures doesn't make these people victims of a "debtor's prison complex." As a general rule, it makes them feckless dolts who could have straightened the matter out if they had taken the initiative to do so.

I won't pretend to know how community service works in your neck of the woods, but once again, in most jurisdictions there is usually some flexibility in scheduling, so as to avoid conflict with work schedules.

[Milton Miteybad]

Whoa Dude! Yer talkin’ personal responsibility! That’s a Christian Eurocentric White Heterosexual Male Constitutonalist paradigm which is not compatible with the fundamental transformation of America!

I just can't seem to get with the program, I guess. ;-)

[VanShuyten]

I read another article on this a couple of months ago. Another problem was that these people just blew off any court appearances, so additional court costs were added. Also, one judge they interviewed for that article said that if the person either made arrangements to pay the fine over time, or at the court appearance told the judge that it was impossible to make a lump sum payment, some deal was usually struck to either have partial payments over time or just reduced fines. Occasionally, the fine was even waived in cases of severe hardship.
These people in jail probably just ignored the tickets and then the court summons, hoping they’d just go away.

[Pikachu_Dad]

They probably owed child support... Or had other issues that would result in jail time.

[Shimmer1]

Then don’t going around impregnating young women.

[sickoflibs]

RE :”Then don’t going around impregnating young women.”

That is almost totally their decision to get pregnant, this is not ISIS.

Why should they be rewarded by the government for having babies out of wedlock?

It makes about as much sense as rewarding people for homosexual behavior.