In a blistering order yesterday, a county judge in Alabama called enough on one city's use of a private probation company that passes on fees for its work to people convicted of crimes and then throws them into jail when they can't pay. We covered this on the show a couple of weeks ago as the unlikely return of debtors prisons in this country, drawing on a long feature in the New York Times. Shelby County (Alabama) Judge Hub Harrington sees the matter that same way. Ruling in a suit against the town of Harpersville, he writes (pdf):
When viewed in a light most favorable to Defendants, their testimony concerning the City's court system could reasonably be characterized as the operation of a debtors prison. The court notes that these generally fell into disfavor by the early 1800's, though the practice appears to have remained common place in Harpersville. From a fair reading of the defendants' testimony one might ascertain that a more apt description of the Harpersville Municipal Court practices is that of a judicially sanctioned extortion racket. Most distressing is that these abuses have been perpetrated by what is supposed to be a court of law. Disgraceful.
Judge Harrington writes that the list of ways in which constitutional safeguards have been violated is too long to chronicle, but he spells out several. Number eight caught my eye: "Defendants interminably held in the county work release program until all fines and fees are paid in full." In addition to holding folks in debtors prison, he's saying, they're also holding them in indefinite work release -- for profit. While the case continues, Judge Harrington says he's taking over the cases of the folks thrown into jail for not paying.
The company, Judicial Correction Services, Inc., promises to help courts cut recidivism and boost their fine collection. The company has offices in Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.
(Image: From a Judicial Correction Services, Inc., video.)
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Not only debtors prisons but indentured slavery. What a @!$%#ing country America is.
Its called " REPUBLICANISM " ............ Vote them out .
Leslie Todd, this started while Alabama was run by the Democrats who ran this state for 136 years before the Republicans took it over in 2010.
It is grossly unethical for public law to use private prisons to enforce public verdicts. Actions against individuals, by the public realm, belong only within the public realm. This also goes for governmental enities outsourcing the collection of taxes and fees.
Well I think the Judge is going to seriously kick some city's buttocks in addition to that criminal enterprise. The Judge is right and the city and the company doing this crap is dead wrong.
It will be worse if Romney gets in office , It will be a condoned practice .
It takes a lot of guts for a judge in a very conservative state to make such a bold move. The man deserves a thank you from the defendants for doing his job. And the judge's decision should get a lot of publicity to embarrass the private prison company.
FTFY. Including you and me.
Right-wing poutrage over 'activist judges' commencing in 3, 2, 1...
We as a country are going backwards thanks to the rightwing crazy.
Missouri has become one of those State too. Its unreal what this country has come to. Maybe we can wake up the majority of people.
This is just another example of how republican ideas are detramental to families in america. I believe a person who has been convicted of a crime in a REAL court of law should pay their fines , But to keep someone incarcerated indefinately is illegal, wrong, and immoral. for all we know they were trumped up charges to begin with as an expiedient way to balance the state budget. Its sickening to think these people might have been imprisoned for something they may or may not have done just to keep federal monies coming in to the state for correctional purposes. typical republican crim in action scumbags
EXACTLY. That's where this is all become so messed up. "We're low on funds... eh, we'll just stick these 50 prisoners with fines. They'd never be able to pay and we can make more money out of it."
I'm all for sending bad people to jail and keeping them there, but I imagine corruption like this hurts and corrupts the entire system as a whole.
Brian, Alabama became Republican in 2010. This company was hired long before then by a city that still votes Democrat. Have a nice day.
Welcome to ALEC the American Legislative Exchange Council. they are responsible for debtors prison-,stand your ground laws,- voter suppression,- anti abortion laws.
anti consumer laws by the hundreds, big backers of big oil big pill big health insurance rip offs. just about every evil thing you can imagine.
If you have a republican senator or congressman you ban bet they are a secret member.
Every right wing governor elected in 2010 is a big time member. herman cain is a member gorge bush, rush limbaugh hannity beck
The list goes on and on. for more information google "alec watch".com.
Lafayette LA is the same way. A friend's son received a DUI (he admits he was wrong) but once he got caught up in the system it was frightening. He was just here for a visit but had to stay six months to take care of this. Luckily he had a few thousand he had saved up but even that was not enough. He spent every minute of every day dealing with this. He lost his licence and could not drive but was lucky enough to find a job he could walk to, then every evening he had to find an AA meeting that was willing to sign his court slip. He paid all court costs, weekly fees for the tracking bracelet, had to install a phone line for the bracelet it just went on and on and on fee after fee after fee. It seemed never ending.
One stumble and you are mincemeat
Man, now I'm scared of mincemeat.
needs to be some serious hammurabi-ratio jail time for these executives
Yes, Time to get Primevil with this jerks. The Code of Hammurabi works for me but hit'um in the wallet, where it will, really, hurt them.
They used to give $50 a day credit toward your fine for every day you spent in jail. Now they charge you by the day for being there. How can anyone get out from under something like that?
Welcome to a Dickesian world. Ever read Little Dorrit?
That's the whole idea; you're not supposed to get out from under it. Chain gangs were notorious as sources of cheap labor and money for law enforcement officers who ran them. Within the past several years, there have been a few judges(!) convicted of illegally sentencing juveniles to privately run custodial facilities. They got a kick-back from the owners of the facilities for every kid sentenced. Here, they coerce exhorbitant fees from defendants with the threat of jail, imprison them when they're squeezed dry, charge them fees for being in jail, and then hold them in work release until all the legally extortionate fines are paid. Wonder if they skim off the top of the work release money?
Of course, those with the money to pay right away get out when they can,so guess who ends up getting trapped in this "indentured slavery"? (thanks, Mykelb)
Wow! They have a similar setup in Greenfield Indiana. I should know. My cousin's husband runs the place. I've also been a "guest" for Driving on a suspended drivers liscence.
this for profit company needs to be sued out of existence for pretty basic civil rights violations, and if there can be criminal penalties for knowingly violating peoples rights, they should apply to anyone in this company's upper management circle
Judge Hub Harrington, who entered the order stopping this nonsense, is a Republican. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_County_Republican_Party_%28Alabama%29 i hope brian R-1923282 can pull his foot out of his mouth before he chokes
I don't think Brian put his foot in his mouth. This is a republican state the screams smaller government. After all, look how easy it is for them to stuff their pockets when it's private businesses they hire. No one said all republicans are bad.
And again, I'll say Remember Haliburton and how they ripped off our government and our own Service men and women? Supplying tainted water and only supplying 1 meal for every three they charged for!
My husband is a Vet Nam Vet who served on the USS America. There was a crew of 5000 and that ship ran with no independent contractors, The Crew ran that ship. That's how it should still work!
If you are in the service, you have a job, if you do that job there is no need for these greedy bastards to ever get contracts. In my opinion, when this changed, this is when everything started getting so out of hand!
Hats off to Judge Harrington!
poppy, I wish you and the rest of you liberals would just do a little bit of research before you put your foot in your mouths. This company in Alabama was hired before 2010 (the year the Republicans took over) by a town that still to this day votes Democrat.
They do the same thing in Hawaii. Probationers must pay for everything and are jailed if they can't.
Mike Lofgren a veteran republican congressional staffer who left the party wrote..."The Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe...written on TRUTHOUT..
Finally a judge who gets it!
Is this still the United States of America? Everyday it seems less and less so! This is an example of what the conservatives mean by smaller government. They can hire these private firms and have private prisons and then they can all get their piece. Does Haliburton ring any bells? Friggen Thieves!
In 2000, I went to prison in CA for something I did. I'm not claiming I was innocent. I was given a sentence and had to pay restitution. Back then, the state had a small jail for those who were given restitution amounts. If you were lucky, you went there, found a job in the local community, and actually worked instead of staying at the huge prisons. In return, when you got paid, they would take the check, cash it, and you'd get 1/3 that you could use. 1/3 went to pay your restitution, 1/3 was kept as your 'rent', and the rest was for you to use. Now here's the kicker. You could only go there if you had 3 years or less left on your sentence. So if you went there at the three year point and found a job fast, you had the ability to pay off a nice chunk of your debt. But several of the former inmates found out, once they left and reported in to their community parole officer, that they'd gotten NO credit for all the money they'd paid that was supposed to be going for their restitution. Zero. One filed a lawsuit but I've never heard what the results were. It got closed in 2002 because CA was 'too broke to keep it open anymore."
This is happening all over the US. If you get arrested, even if you are guilty of NOTHING, you are required to pay a 'booking fee." It only gets worse from there, guilty or not. The privateers are just a little more greedy, but not by much.
If corporations are truly 'people,' then Judicial Correction Services, Inc. should do some time behind bars. What are the chance of that happening?
In Birmingham, AL 70 years ago, the local mines were kept fully staffed with forced labor by the Sheriff rounding up work crews on trumped up charges (always black or lower class white). When the arrested could not pay fines they were sent to the mines. This case, before the intervention of the judge, is not too far from that sad time.
Thank you Judge Harrington for showing that here in Alabama, history does not have to repeat itself and occasionally, we do get it right.
Methinks the 1% pine wistfullly for the return of the Dickensian era.
im sure this guy will be thrown out of office because of this we can any sliver or hint of liberalism in this state call me cynical
This only corrects the lesser of the crimes committed in law enforcement in this particular case. Scott-m indicates a scam that states have been perpetrating for many years, which makes this kind of system far more egregious. You pay a booking fee that happens to be a filing fee for an Appearance Bond. Then, if you do not show up in court the court collects on the bond and you are the surety for the bond, hence the issuance of a Failure to Appear Order. The Bench Warrant is all you hear about because it is the only lawful course of action a real court can take, but courts have been making millions for many years with this kind of municipal scam. Have someone ask for a copy of the Appearance Bond at no cost and see how harshly a court will treat you if you press. That is a well kept secret.