Report: Ohio illegally jailing poor people for not paying legal debts

[davidn3600]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Several courts in Ohio are illegally jailing people because they are too poor to pay their debts and often deny defendants a hearing to determine if they're financially capable of paying what they owe, according to an investigation released Thursday by the Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU likens the problem to modern-day debtors' prisons. Jailing people for debt pushes poor defendants farther into poverty and costs counties more than the actual debt because of the cost of arresting and incarcerating individuals, the report said.

"The use of debtors' prison is an outdated and destructive practice that has wreaked havoc upon the lives of those profiled in this report and thousands of others throughout Ohio," the report said.

Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor of the Ohio Supreme Court, responding to the ACLU's request to take action, promised to review the findings. O'Connor told the group in a letter Wednesday: "you do cite a matter that can and must receive further attention."

The report says courts in Huron, Cuyahoga, and Erie counties are among the worst offenders.

http://news.yahoo.com/report-ohio-courts-illegally-jailing-poor-224308615.html

[dsc]

1. that would be cleveland, sandusky

and an admittedly very small county, but cuyahoga alone has around 1.5 million.

[Rex]

2. I do not know if this is new in Texas

but I hear that is happening around here statewide. Might be a law here already established, dunno.

[madrchsod]

3. at least in illinois they have to take you to court

then if you do`t pay they can throw you in jail.

[Deep13]

4. For being in debt?

That's not a crime. That's the whole point here. Unless there is actual criminal conduct involved, the state cannot legally punish someone merely for being in debt.

[madrchsod]

8. yup.....

your debt is turned over to a collection agency. they take you to court and you are ordered to pay the debt on terms. if you do`t pay you are charged with contempt of court and you are then subject to jail.

well to the debtor's prison system

[msongs]

5. debtor jails and privatized prisons - dems should be on the attack here, it is a winning issue....

except for dems who are complicit of course

[SleeplessinSoCal]

6. "debtor's prisons" is a terrifying term. It's bad enough that they're privatized.

What on earth is happening to US?

[SamReynolds]

7. Lemme guess....

The prisons are privately operated in Ohio?

[FarCenter]

9. Isn't jail time a standard alternative to paying a fine?

Among the report's findings:

— In the second half of last year, more than one in every five of all bookings in the Huron County jail — originating from Norwalk Municipal Court cases — involved a failure to pay fines.

— In suburban Cleveland, Parma Municipal Court jailed at least 45 defendants for failure to pay fines and costs between July 15 and August 31, 2012.

— During the same period, Sandusky Municipal Court jailed at least 75 people for similar charges.

[Deep13]

10. Yes, but we are mostly talking about ordinary, commercial liability. nt

[FarCenter]

12. No, RTFA -- they are being jailed for failure to pay fines and court costs. nt

[frylock]

11. ohio is probably committed to keeping their private for-profit prisons at 90% capacity..

fuck the PIC.

[babylonsister]

13. Unreal. nt

[malaise]

14. Well they can gain profit off the poor in private prisons

Private prisons are the new business model.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

15. Worth noting that this is convicted criminals not paying fines, not ordinary debts.

The headline of the article is somewhat misleading.

It appears that there's legitimate concern about jailing people for not paying fines without due process, but this appears to be about non-payment of fines, not of debts.