ACLU takes aim at debtors’ prisons in Michigan

[Bozita]

Source: Michigan Messenger

ACLU takes aim at debtors’ prisons in Michigan
By Ed Brayton
08.04.11 | 1:49 pm


The ACLU of Michigan announced Thursday that it is challenging what they call “pay or stay” sentences that put people in jail if they’re too poor to pay court costs in a criminal case. In a press release the group noted five such cases in the state and said:

In each instance, the judge failed to hold a hearing that would prove the individual was too poor to pay, or give the defendant the option of a payment plan or community service.

“Long thought to be a relic of the 19th century, debtors’ prisons are still alive and well in Michigan,” said Kary Moss, the ACLU of Michigan’s executive director. “Jailing our clients because they are poor is not only unconstitutional, it’s unconscionable and a shameful waste of resources. Our justice system should be a place where freedom has no price and equality prevails regardless of a defendant’s economic status.”

Today’s announcement is the result of a nearly two-year investigation into modern-day debtors’ prisons in Michigan. Over the last two weeks, ACLU attorneys witnessed district and circuit court judges dole out “pay or stay” sentences in seven counties – Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Montcalm, Muskegon, Kent and Ionia. The ACLU’s clients represent dozens of poor defendants who are being jailed at increasingly alarming rates for failing to pay legal debts they cannot afford.

The U.S. and Michigan constitutions forbid debtors’ prisons and the jailing of individuals who cannot pay court fines and fees because they are poor.

“In the face of mounting budget deficits, states are aggressively targeting poor people, and minorities often bear the burden,” said Elora Mukherjee, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program. “These modern-day debtors’ prisons impose devastating human costs, waste taxpayer money and create a two-tiered justice system.”

The ACLU is challenging the sentences of five individuals who were jailed for being too poor to pay fines, fees and costs related to criminal offenses. Although each defendant is willing to pay fees over time on a payment plan or perform community service, the judges never gave this option. As of today, two individuals have been released as a result of the ACLU’s intervention.


Read more: http://michiganmessenger.com/51467/aclu-takes-aim-at-debtors-prisons-in-michigan

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Mods: Everything below the first paragraph is part of the ACLU's press release.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Time for an "Owers Prison."

:think:

[roguevalley]

8. thank god for this. it is another stain on our country and honor.

[fasttense]

2. Debtor's prison really doesn't work efficiently unless laws are changed

to allow for the inheritance of debt. Where you have the 2 combined (debtor's prison and debt inheritance) the rich are feudal lords and the middle class and poor are nothing but serfs.

The totally insane RepubliCONS and their bat sh*t crazy teabaggers need to refashion the ALEC laws they are passing. How can you have a good feudal system without the correct laws? Just check out Saudi's or Dubai's laws. They know how to keep the working people in their place - in abject poverty.

[JimDandy]

6. I thought it was illegal for debt holders to try to force heirs to pay

debts of the deceased when the debt exceeds the value of the deceased's estate/assets at death. Is debt inheritance something specific to this state?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. The other poster was being sarcastic.

[ananda]

3. Fodder for the prison industry.

nt

[SpiralHawk]

4. This is a Republicon wet dream come true

[Dawson Leery]

5. The Bull Connor way is indeed Unconstitutional.

[ChrisBorg]

7. So the options are pay, debtor's prison, slave labor or reeducation camps?

[SemperEadem]

9. had the government defaulted two days ago

I wonder if the entire US population would have been thrown in a debtor's prison for that? Maybe work camps in China, since they own a huge chunk of our debt.

[No Elephants]

10. Shameful. thought this stuff went out with the potato famine and Dickens.