The revival of "debtors' prisons" first hit my radar at the end of last year. It seems it is striving to catch up with prison privatization in terms of abuses.
Yesterday, Human Rights Watch released Profiting from Probation, a report that confirms the ACLU's worst fears about the privatization of probation services: for-profit companies are increasingly working with county and city courts around the country to extort poor people for money, including by illegally jailing them simply because they are too poor to pay court-imposed fines and fees. While poor people suffer and taxpayers foot the bill for hidden costs, private companies make big money—to the tune of an estimated $40 million in revenue in Georgia alone, according to the report.
,,,Yet at no point did Sentinal or the court take into consideration Barrett's ability to pay—the latter, a clear violation of the law. Imprisoning someone because she cannot afford to pay court-imposed fines or fees violates the 14th Amendment.
Barrett is one of hundreds of thousands of poor people across the country who are being squeezed for debt collection by an unholy alliance between private probation companies and cash-strapped county and city courts. More than 1,000 courts across several states, including Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama, seek to generate revenue by collecting unpaid debt from those convicted of misdemeanors without hiring staff to administer probation. Instead, these courts contract with private firms that seek s to make a profit and promise to do the job for free. However, privatization simply shifts costs onto poor probationers through fees paid directly to private firms, which are entirely distinct from fines imposed to punish or deter crime. Perversely, those least able to pay remain on probation the longest and pay the most to private probation companies.
Court-Sanctioned Extortion by Private Probation Companies: Modern Debtors' Prisons | American Civil Liberties Union
No comments:
Post a Comment