Debtor's Prison

[DGS49]

My son is a journalist and was led to a possible story involving some people who were jailed because they could not afford to pay fines for petty offenses (e.g., $100 for a speeding ticket).

I was incredulous. "Does this really happen?"

You had better believe it.

He uncovered (through FOIA requests) records of THOUSANDS of people - tens of thousands, really - in the whole state of Pennsylvania, who have been jailed for days, weeks, and even months, because they couldn't pay a couple hundred dollars (usually) in fines for some petty offense. And this is not just by order of some local bozo magistrates, it has been managed by supervising judges in Pennsylvania Common Pleas courts.

Ultimately, the fine is "paid" by crediting the person with a few dollars for each day in jail. It goes without saying that incarcerating these poor bastards costs THE TAXPAYERS hundreds of times what the fines would amount to, if fully collected in cash.

There is a giant legal earthquake on the horizon, as counties and states are going to be paying these people for wrongful imprisonment. The ACLU is hot on the case, and they will have good representation in class action lawsuits in almost every state. It will be HUGE!

Speaking as an American Citizen and a legal resident of Pennsylvania, "I think we are all bozos on this bus."

I really thought Debtors' Prisons went out with Charles Dickens.

 

[irosie91]

My son is a journalist and was led to a possible story involving some people who were jailed because they could not afford to pay fines for petty offenses (e.g., $100 for a speeding ticket).

I was incredulous. "Does this really happen?"

You had better believe it.

He uncovered (through FOIA requests) records of THOUSANDS of people - tens of thousands, really - in the whole state of Pennsylvania, who have been jailed for days, weeks, and even months, because they couldn't pay a couple hundred dollars (usually) in fines for some petty offense. And this is not just by order of some local bozo magistrates, it has been managed by supervising judges in Pennsylvania Common Pleas courts.

Ultimately, the fine is "paid" by crediting the person with a few dollars for each day in jail. It goes without saying that incarcerating these poor bastards costs THE TAXPAYERS hundreds of times what the fines would amount to, if fully collected in cash.

There is a giant legal earthquake on the horizon, as counties and states are going to be paying these people for wrongful imprisonment. The ACLU is hot on the case, and they will have good representation in class action lawsuits in almost every state. It will be HUGE!

Speaking as an American Citizen and a legal resident of Pennsylvania, "I think we are all bozos on this bus."

I really thought Debtors' Prisons went out with Charles Dickens.

although I kinda agree that jailing a person for not paying a trivial fine------is weird------the FACT is that lots of misdemeanors or even "violations" are "fine" or days (up to, I believe, a year) in jail. As to Pennsylvannia------long ago I worked in Pennsylvannia but lived in Jersey----for awhile-----PHILADELPHIANS are the weirdest people in the world----
including one of my sisters-in-law. Besides the fact that they eat weird food-----(HOAGIES!!!) they also have weird personalities--------I often had to ask directions---being an ALIEN in that land-------typical response was something like
"why don't you know...." ???? or "who are you...."""???
My sister-in-law------if even her own mother might say ----"could you hand me that newspaper ....."-----her answer could be "NO" If the study was of PHILADELPHIA courts-----it is mere----uhm.....ANECDOTE ------try a normal city with normal people.

 

[DGS49]

Philadelphia has not turned over its information yet. Still processing. Thousands of incarcerations from the rest of the state.

 

[Wyatt earp]

It happens all the time in South Carolina when I was in jail for 30 days around 8 years ago I met this old guy that gets keeping locked up for 6 month stints for not paying child support, they let him out for a few months and back in he goes.

A lot of counties don't have work release either..no way to pay.

 

[Wyatt earp]

It's not wrongful imprisonment it is not a criminal charge but a civil one.



.

 

[Clementine]

My son is a journalist and was led to a possible story involving some people who were jailed because they could not afford to pay fines for petty offenses (e.g., $100 for a speeding ticket).

I was incredulous. "Does this really happen?"

You had better believe it.

He uncovered (through FOIA requests) records of THOUSANDS of people - tens of thousands, really - in the whole state of Pennsylvania, who have been jailed for days, weeks, and even months, because they couldn't pay a couple hundred dollars (usually) in fines for some petty offense. And this is not just by order of some local bozo magistrates, it has been managed by supervising judges in Pennsylvania Common Pleas courts.

Ultimately, the fine is "paid" by crediting the person with a few dollars for each day in jail. It goes without saying that incarcerating these poor bastards costs THE TAXPAYERS hundreds of times what the fines would amount to, if fully collected in cash.

There is a giant legal earthquake on the horizon, as counties and states are going to be paying these people for wrongful imprisonment. The ACLU is hot on the case, and they will have good representation in class action lawsuits in almost every state. It will be HUGE!

Speaking as an American Citizen and a legal resident of Pennsylvania, "I think we are all bozos on this bus."

I really thought Debtors' Prisons went out with Charles Dickens.

Are there more details available? I know people can go to jail for cheating on taxes, then failing to pay. (Except Sharpton). If you can't afford to pay, they have payment plans or you hire lawyers to try and reduce the amount owed. There are many options other than going to jail. Whereas, if you just ignore or don't pay taxes, then you're talking about something more serious than being short of cash.

Speeding tickets and such are petty crimes, ones that people choose to commit and we all know there are penalties. What they do, or don't do, after getting that ticket is important.

Point being that if people just ignore the fines and don't set up a payment plan, there would be a little more to it than simply jailing them for not being able to pay. Maybe they are trying to dodge the fine. I suspect that some people don't realize they may have options and perhaps ignore tickets and fines because they know they can't pay. If a person regularly gets parking tickets, speeding tickets, etc, then ignores them, they would be considered a habitual offender and that puts a different spin on things.

Jailing people for not having enough money is not acceptable. On the other hand, people need to stop speeding or whatever they are doing since the penalty doesn't fit into their budget.

Eliminating debtor's prisons was more aimed at those people who maybe lost their jobs and just couldn't afford to pay their utility bills or loans.