Monday, April 27, 2015


News Clips For The Day


POLICE AND CIVIL RIGHTS – TWO ARTICLES


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/baltimore-reeling-from-volatile-police-demonstrations/

Baltimore reeling from volatile police demonstrations
By MARK ALBERK CBS NEWS
April 26, 2015

Photograph – Freddie Gray's twin sister, Fredericka, pleaded with the public for peace in the wake of her brother's death.
 CBS NEWS


BALTIMORE -- A week of protests in Baltimore turned into a night of violence, with dozens of arrests, officers injured, and the family of Freddie Gray calling for calm. The 25-year-old died after being hurt in police custody. His wake was Sunday.

Mourners carried flowers and grief into a funeral home in north Baltimore today, where the family held a wake for Freddie Gray.

Jeanette Johnson was one of hundreds who came.

"I'm so devastated," she said, although she did not know Gray. "Because I have sons and it could have been them."

Jasmine Lee is Freddie Gray's cousin.

"When I go in there, it's reality that he's gone," said Lee. "And it's not fair. And we want justice."

Gray's still-unexplained death a week ago after suffering a spinal injury in police custody led to an eruption of anger which, until yesterday, had remained largely peaceful.

But 90 minutes before dusk, a mob near the Camden Yards baseball stadium attacked police cars, threw bottles, rocks and cones at police, and looted several nearby businesses.

Dozens of officers charged the rioters, surging into the crowd to detain a protester. 35 were arrested in all.

As night fell, 1,200 officers were deployed citywide, 300 swept the downtown streets. We spoke to Lt. Thompson, who declined to give his first name.

He was asked if he believed violent protesters were outsiders. "I have dealt with the people in this neighborhood for years," he said. "I've worked in the district for years and I've never had any trouble like this."

Freddie Gray's twin sister, Fredericka, later joined the city's mayor to call for peace. "My family wants to say, can you all please, please stop the violence? Freddie Gray would not want this."

Damaged businesses in Baltimore have already been boarded up. No damage estimate has been released. The family has asked that there be no protests today or tomorrow, when Freddie Gray's funeral is scheduled.




“Gray's still-unexplained death a week ago after suffering a spinal injury in police custody led to an eruption of anger which, until yesterday, had remained largely peaceful. But 90 minutes before dusk, a mob near the Camden Yards baseball stadium attacked police cars, threw bottles, rocks and cones at police, and looted several nearby businesses. Dozens of officers charged the rioters, surging into the crowd to detain a protester. 35 were arrested in all. …. We spoke to Lt. Thompson, who declined to give his first name. He was asked if he believed violent protesters were outsiders. "I have dealt with the people in this neighborhood for years," he said. "I've worked in the district for years and I've never had any trouble like this." …. Damaged businesses in Baltimore have already been boarded up. No damage estimate has been released. The family has asked that there be no protests today or tomorrow, when Freddie Gray's funeral is scheduled.”

The TV news footage last night showed one man standing on top of a police car as he broke out the windshield with what looked to be a baseball bat. The problem in this case is that the police who detained Gray have yet to fess up and say what happened in that police car. Somebody had to have violently assaulted him for his neck to be broken. I understand that they failed to belt him in, and yesterday's article said that officers had been known to purposely give the detainees a rough ride, so if their driving caused him to be thrown around inside the van that could possibly break his neck. One of the earlier articles described his head as being “80% severed.” Could that happen by being thrown around in the vehicle? Or did an officer break his neck manually? It is possible to do that if the head is forcibly turned around to the side. It's possible that the description “severed” was not the best word to have used. That sounds like somebody tried to cut his head off. Whatever happened, it doesn't sound like an ordinary accident.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cummings-police-relations-civil-rights-cause-generation/

Are police relations the top civil rights cause?
By REBECCA KAPLAN FACE THE NATION
April 26, 2015

Video – NYPD’s top brass on the latest police controversies

As cities continue to see protests over the deaths of black men apparently at the hands of police, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland said police-community relations is "the civil rights cause for this generation, no doubt about it."

Cummings was one of the community leaders in Baltimore Saturday where a day of peaceful protests eventually turned violent. Members of the community there are still angry over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died a week ago while in police custody.

After thousands marched toward city hall, some protesters began smashing police cars and the windows of businesses and police cars and throwing cans, bottles and trash cans at police and storefronts. Baseball fans at the Orioles-Red Sox game in Camden Yards were delayed from leaving to avoid some of the mounting violence. At least five officers were injured and 12 people were arrested.

"A lot of people are very, very frustrated as to trying to figure out what happened here and its very upsetting," Cummings said in an interview on "Face the Nation" in reference go Gray's death. But he said he lauded the citizens of Baltimore for the mostly-restrained protests.

"I was here all day and it was very peaceful all day," he said. "Then at the end there were a few people who said, 'We're going to turn this city down, we're gonna close it down,' and then next thing you know we had a few people, mainly from out of town, to come and to start beating up on police cars and throwing all kinds of projectiles."

"The fact is that for the most part it could have been worse," he added, saying that many community leaders were in the crowd asking people not to be violent. Along with Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, Cummings went on the air to ask people to go home and to urge their relatives at the protests to do so as well.

So far Cummings said he's been satisfied with the way the chief of police and mayor have handled the case.

"They're doing the best they can under the circumstances," he said. But members of Maryland's congressional delegation have also asked the federal government to conduct a civil rights investigation, which he said they have agreed to do.

"This is a significant moment," Cummings said. "If we don't correct this now it will only get worse."

Cummings attributed the renewed attention on police-community relations to the rise in cell phone cameras. In a separate interview, John Miller, the New York City Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism and a former CBS News correspondent, agreed.

"Incidents that might have happened, once they're recorded become much more of a flash point than just the story that wouldn't have ever left that particular city," he said. He also said that these incidents get much more attention because of the prevalence of cable TV.

"Between the cell phone cameras which capture the emotional moment or the brutal moment of an incident and the fact that it's played on endlessly over a period of days till the next one happens creates this false perception of an increase" in violent incidents between police and African American citizens, Miller said. He said there is a "little chicken and egg piece" as to whether there has been an actual uptick in incidents or just better documentation of the incidents themselves.

Overall, both Miller and New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, who also appeared on "Face the Nation," said there has been a decrease in the number of arrests and detention and a decline in the prison population as crime has trended downward.

"We're losing, unfortunately, some of the good news, but each one of these events offers an opportunity to have more dialogue...for us to see each other better than we have in the past," ­Bratton said.

Miller advised police chiefs to start creating their relationships under nonstressful circumstances.

"If you start to try and develop those relations after some terrible event has happened and you're behind the eight ball that's a problem," Miller said. "I think if anything, if there's something good that comes out of all of these, police chiefs across America have to be saying, 'Let me do my outreach now, let me do more, let me do it better, and let me have those relationships in place.' Because when the phone rings at 3 o'clock in the morning, if that's the night you're exchanging business cards, you're lost already."

Bratton said that the NYPD investigation into the death of Eric Garner, the State Island man who died after being put in a chokehold by police, is on hold while the federal government finishes its civil rights investigation into the incident.

A grand jury declined to indict the police officer who used an apparent chokehold on Garner. Bratton said the NYPD is still reviewing the case for administrative policy procedure violations.




"Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland said police-community relations is "the civil rights cause for this generation, no doubt about it." Cummings was one of the community leaders in Baltimore Saturday where a day of peaceful protests eventually turned violent. …. At least five officers were injured and 12 people were arrested. "A lot of people are very, very frustrated as to trying to figure out what happened here and its very upsetting," Cummings said in an interview on "Face the Nation" in reference go Gray's death. But he said he lauded the citizens of Baltimore for the mostly-restrained protests. …. 'We're going to turn this city down, we're gonna close it down,' and then next thing you know we had a few people, mainly from out of town, to come and to start beating up on police cars and throwing all kinds of projectiles." "The fact is that for the most part it could have been worse," he added, saying that many community leaders were in the crowd asking people not to be violent. Along with Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, Cummings went on the air to ask people to go home and to urge their relatives at the protests to do so as well. …. But members of Maryland's congressional delegation have also asked the federal government to conduct a civil rights investigation, which he said they have agreed to do. "This is a significant moment," Cummings said. "If we don't correct this now it will only get worse." …."Incidents that might have happened, once they're recorded become much more of a flash point than just the story that wouldn't have ever left that particular city," he said. He also said that these incidents get much more attention because of the prevalence of cable TV. …. We're losing, unfortunately, some of the good news, but each one of these events offers an opportunity to have more dialogue...for us to see each other better than we have in the past," ­Bratton said. Miller advised police chiefs to start creating their relationships under nonstressful circumstances.”

The argument that there are fewer incidents, but a greater degree of anger over each incident due to the increased documentation by cellphone carrying citizens, only shows me that police have been doing things – perhaps unreported – that are unethical at the very least. Police shouldn't have been getting away with roughing citizens up, especially for no good reason as it appears to be in these recorded incidents. The way to solve this problem is not to have fewer cellphones in use or to prohibit their being accessible by the public to prove the reality of each situation, as some states including Florida have already tried to do, but to retrain cops to talk before shooting or administering a beating. It would also help if the police were to go back to patrolling in pairs so that an aggressive suspect can be handcuffed without shooting him. And, yes, this is a civil rights issue.

See also the article below on the new debtors prison, or the equivalent of it, that is being caused by the courts sentencing people to jail because they can't pay tickets. One of the articles below is about the increasing number of businesses which deal specifically in arresting people for their debts. Now that's a conflict of interest if there ever was one. That was, I thought, outlawed years ago. How could it be reappearing now?





http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2015/04/27/400099544/in-texas-questions-about-prosecuting-truancy

In Texas, Questions About Prosecuting Truancy
Claudio Sanchez
April 27, 2015

Photograph – Zaid Yassin and his 5-year-old daughter, Fatima, came to Travis County Court in Austin, Texas, to defend Fatima's 23 missed days of school.
Elissa Nadworny/NPR

As long as there have been schools and classes, there have been students who don't show up. And educators scratching their heads over what to do about it.

In most states, missing a lot of school means a trip to the principal's office. In Texas, parents and students are more likely to end up in front of a judge.

Truancy there is treated as a criminal offense, a class C misdemeanor. In 2013, school districts in the state filed 115,000 truancy cases. The problem is so big, state lawmakers and the U.S. Justice Department are investigating whether prosecuting children and teenagers in adult criminal courts is doing more harm than good.

Zaid Yassin's case is just one example of the complexity of chronic school absence and the challenges of dealing with it through the criminal justice system.

Yassin has been summoned by the Travis County Court in Austin because his 5-year-old daughter, Fatima, has missed 23 days of school, all unexcused absences. Yassin says his little girl gets sick a lot.

"When she's sick, like high fever or stomach pain, normally I write a note the next day when I take her to the school," Yassin says. But he doesn't know why the school considers these unexcused absences.

Yassin explains this to Justice of the Peace Yvonne Michelle Williams, the presiding judge.

"So it sounds like you're pleading not guilty," says Williams. Yes, Yassin responds.

Williams gives him a form, which he doesn't stop to read, and he checks the "not guilty" box. He is assigned another court date to appear and prove that his daughter's 23 absences were legitimate.

Outside, he seems relieved. "Do you think you're in the clear?" I ask him. "Yes," he says.

Experts who've studied truancy policies in Texas say it's rare for a parent or student to plead not guilty.

Often, parents just want to get it over and done with, says Deborah Fowler. She's the executive director of Texas Appleseed, a public service law center in Austin. The group has compiled the most comprehensive study of school truancy in Texas.

"We've met kids in court who've never had a disciplinary referral at school," she says. "Students who have chronic health problems who end up in court because a parent may have forgotten to turn in a medical excuse."

Of course, there will always be kids who have no excuse for skipping school. But Fowler says chronic truancy is more complicated than that. The reasons include pregnancy, caring for a relative, drug use, an abusive situation at home — even homelessness.

"The scope of the problem is staggering," she says, and yet adult courts tend to see truant kids as "troublemakers" who just don't belong in school.

Seeking New Approaches

According to Texas Appleseed's latest study, over a three-year period ending in 2013, about 6,400 students brought before judges were ordered to withdraw from school, subsequently took the GED exam and failed it.

Eight of 10 of these students were African-American, Latino or in special education. All were eventually counted as dropouts. That has gotten the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice, which has begun an investigation.

State lawmakers, meanwhile, have called for a review of truancy policies. Sen. John Whitmire, a Democrat who is chairman of the Senate's criminal justice committee, wants to decriminalize truancy and require schools to provide a lot more prevention and intervention before students are referred to adult court.

But some school districts are resisting these reforms, says Whitmire: "I just think schools, unfortunately, are callous."

Joy Baskin, the top attorney for the Texas Association of School Boards, disagrees. "I certainly wouldn't use the term callous to describe school administrators," she says.

Baskin defends districts' enforcement of attendance policies and worries that if truancy policies change dramatically, it would send a signal that school attendance is not a priority in Texas.

The state began getting tough on truants in the mid-1990s, when the state decided to transfer truancy cases from juvenile courts to adult criminal courts, which up until then prosecuted mostly traffic citations and petty crime.

Deborah Fowler, of Texas Appleseed, calls these "plea mills" because, she says, they're built for high volume and for making money. She says truancy cases can often lead to families being fined up to $1,500, or facing jail time if they don't pay.

There are judges, however, who are known to go easier on kids and parents. Williams in Travis County is one of them. She's a fierce critic of how adult courts treat students: "It's just pitiful."

She says that too many children who end up in court have serious, undiagnosed or untreated learning disabilities, which is why they miss so much school to begin with.

"I had such a case this morning," Williams says.

It's the case of 17-year-old Edgar Ramirez. He says he hates school. His mother, Alma Ramirez, can't get him to go. So they've both been charged.

Through an interpreter, Williams gives them three options: Plead guilty, not guilty or no contest.

They plead no contest after Williams explains that a no-contest plea means their case will be dismissed in 90 days, as long as Edgar does not miss more school and he does community service. Williams also wants Edgar to get help for his learning disability.

Speaking in Spanish, so his mother can understand, Edgar says he tries to learn but he forgets everything. He says his memory fails him and he needs help. Alma Ramirez says he has been evaluated in school, but the medicine he's taking does nothing for his memory problems. It just makes him moody and aggressive.

She is reluctant to blame the school, because ultimately, she says, it'll be up to Edgar to change his behavior.

"I work in construction and I don't want him to struggle like me," Ramirez says in Spanish.

I ask Edgar if he's going to take his mom's advice. He stares at the floor and mumbles, "Yes, I promise to do better."

It's a promise that his mother says she has heard many times before.




“In most states, missing a lot of school means a trip to the principal's office. In Texas, parents and students are more likely to end up in front of a judge. Truancy there is treated as a criminal offense, a class C misdemeanor. In 2013, school districts in the state filed 115,000 truancy cases. The problem is so big, state lawmakers and the U.S. Justice Department are investigating whether prosecuting children and teenagers in adult criminal courts is doing more harm than good. …. Yassin explains this to Justice of the Peace Yvonne Michelle Williams, the presiding judge. "So it sounds like you're pleading not guilty," says Williams. Yes, Yassin responds. Williams gives him a form, which he doesn't stop to read, and he checks the "not guilty" box. He is assigned another court date to appear and prove that his daughter's 23 absences were legitimate. Outside, he seems relieved. "Do you think you're in the clear?" I ask him. "Yes," he says. …. Of course, there will always be kids who have no excuse for skipping school. But Fowler says chronic truancy is more complicated than that. The reasons include pregnancy, caring for a relative, drug use, an abusive situation at home — even homelessness. "The scope of the problem is staggering," she says, and yet adult courts tend to see truant kids as "troublemakers" who just don't belong in school. …. Eight of 10 of these students were African-American, Latino or in special education. All were eventually counted as dropouts. That has gotten the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice, which has begun an investigation. State lawmakers, meanwhile, have called for a review of truancy policies. Sen. John Whitmire, a Democrat who is chairman of the Senate's criminal justice committee, wants to decriminalize truancy and require schools to provide a lot more prevention and intervention before students are referred to adult court.”

“The state began getting tough on truants in the mid-1990s, when the state decided to transfer truancy cases from juvenile courts to adult criminal courts, which up until then prosecuted mostly traffic citations and petty crime. Deborah Fowler, of Texas Appleseed, calls these "plea mills" because, she says, they're built for high volume and for making money. She says truancy cases can often lead to families being fined up to $1,500, or facing jail time if they don't pay.” Here we go again with courts and the justice less interested in the students than in making money for the local government. There should be no privately owned “for profit” prisons or courts whose purpose is financial. Maybe we need a specific law that prohibits these practices. One of the greatest problems is that the student or another minimally guilty citizen ends up with a police record for no good reason, and poor people can't pay all those fines. It seems to me that the time has come for an overall justice reform and some federal laws which can be brought in to stop the frequently corrupt local governments from riding roughshod over their citizens. The quotation above also states that up until the 1990s truancy was handled by juvenile courts, but then were moved to adult court. I wonder if that means that kids have been sent to adult prisons for truancy?? I do hope not.





DEBTOR'S PRISON? – TWO ARTICLES


https://www.aclu.org/cases/thompson-v-dekalb-county

Thompson v DeKalb County
UPDATED: 
MARCH 19, 2015

Related Issues
Excessive Sentencing 
Sentencing 
Criminal Law Reform
Constitutional Principle
Criminal Justice-Rights of the Poor

On January 29, 2015, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit challenging debt collection practices that have resulted in the jailing of people simply because they are poor. The case was brought on behalf of Kevin Thompson, a black teenager in DeKalb County, Georgia, who was jailed because he could not afford to pay court fines and probation company fees stemming from a traffic ticket.

The ACLU charged that DeKalb County and the for-profit company Judicial Correction Services, Inc. (JCS) teamed up to engage in a coercive debt collection scheme that focused on revenue generation at the expense of protecting poor people's rights.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled more than 30 years ago that jailing people because they cannot afford to pay court fines is contrary to the American values of fairness and equality embedded in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The court made clear that judges cannot jail someone for failure to pay without first considering their ability to pay, efforts to acquire money, and alternatives to incarceration.

The lawsuit charged that Thompson's constitutional rights to an indigency hearing and to counsel were violated by DeKalb County, JCS, and the chief judge of the local court that sentenced him to jail.

While blacks 54 percent of the DeKalb County population, nearly all probationers jailed by the DeKalb County Recorders Court for failure to pay are black – a pattern replicated by other Georgia courts.

Less than two months after the suit was filed, the parties reached a settlement agreement on March, 18, 2015. Under the settlement, Thompson received a monetary payment and the chief judge of the DeKalb County Recorder’s Court agreed to take measures to protect the rights of people who cannot afford to make fine and fee payments required as a condition of probation for traffic and other misdemeanor offenses. The measures include:

Adoption of a “bench card” that provides judges instructions to avoid sending people to jail because they owe court fines and are unable to pay. The card lists the legal alternatives to jail and outlines the procedure for determining someone’s ability to pay.  It also instructs judges on how to protect people’s right to counsel in probation revocation proceedings.

Training and guidance to Recorder’s Court personnel involved in misdemeanor probation on probationers’ right to counsel in revocation proceedings and right to an indigency hearing before jailing for failure to pay fines and fees.

Revision of forms to let people charged with probation violations know of their right to court-appointed counsel in probation revocation proceedings, and their right to request a waiver of any public defender fees they cannot afford.




“On January 29, 2015, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit challenging debt collection practices that have resulted in the jailing of people simply because they are poor. The case was brought on behalf of Kevin Thompson, a black teenager in DeKalb County, Georgia, who was jailed because he could not afford to pay court fines and probation company fees stemming from a traffic ticket. The ACLU charged that DeKalb County and the for-profit company Judicial Correction Services, Inc. (JCS) teamed up to engage in a coercive debt collection scheme that focused on revenue generation at the expense of protecting poor people's rights. …. The lawsuit charged that Thompson's constitutional rights to an indigency hearing and to counsel were violated by DeKalb County, JCS, and the chief judge of the local court that sentenced him to jail.”

“The U.S. Supreme Court ruled more than 30 years ago that jailing people because they cannot afford to pay court fines is contrary to the American values of fairness and equality embedded in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The court made clear that judges cannot jail someone for failure to pay without first considering their ability to pay, efforts to acquire money, and alternatives to incarceration.” This just goes to show that if a citizen fails to sue in a court of law over a civil rights issue, that the law will not voluntarily step in and save them. “The Law,” as embodied by police and judges, may well have a pecuniary issue at stake. Looking out for people's rights is not going to line their pockets like abusive practices do. Unfortunately these things have been going on for years. I have just recently given money to the ACLU and am on their email list, and also the SPLC or Southern Poverty Law Center. I do get incensed when I see outrageously abusive practices occurring at the hands of those who are supposed to be the supervisory powers. This country has some good laws on the books, but we as a population are getting blasé and lax about how they are being enforced.





https://www.aclu.org/blog/speakeasy/profit-companies-are-helping-put-people-jail-being-poor-i-should-know-i-was-one-them

For-Profit Companies Are Helping to Put People In Jail for Being Poor. I Should Know, I Was One of Them.
By Kevin Thompson
JANUARY 29, 2015

In December, I was jailed for five days simply because I couldn't afford to pay $838 in traffic fines and fees to DeKalb County and a private probation company called Judicial Correction Services, Inc.

It sounds unbelievable, but that's exactly what happened.

Last summer, I got a traffic ticket just after I pulled my car out of the driveway of my home in Decatur, Georgia. I had no idea that this ticket would eventually land me in the DeKalb County Jail for being poor.

That day, I also didn't know that my driver's license had been suspended. I later learned that it had been suspended because I forgot to submit a form to the Georgia Department of Driver Services after resolving charges related to a minor traffic violation (I missed a "no left turn" sign and appeared late to my court hearing).

In October, the DeKalb County Recorders Court ordered me to pay $810 in fines related to the ticket. When I told the judge that I could not afford to pay $810 that day, she put me on "probation" with Judicial Correction Services (JCS) and told me that I had 30 days to pay. Like other people who couldn't afford to pay fines on sentencing day, I was on "pay-only" probation. My driver's license was also suspended for another six months.

I did everything I could to pay my court fines and the fees JCS charged me for "probation." Because my license was suspended, I could no longer earn money through paid tow truck driving training, which I had done before. I did odd jobs for an auto shop while looking for work and borrowed money from my mom, sister, and grandmother to pay what I could.

But it wasn't enough.

When my 30 days were almost up, I went to see my JCS officer. She charged me with violating probation for failure to pay court fines and JCS fees. She also failed to tell me that I had a right to request a court-appointed lawyer at my probation revocation hearing. Instead, she said I would have to pay $150 for a public defender, even though the fee is $50 and can be waived for poor people. I didn't have the money to pay, so I didn't request a lawyer.

I dressed in slacks and a dress shirt that I borrowed from my dad, since I didn't have my own, and I went to court with my mother for my probation revocation hearing. I hoped the judge might give me an extension of time to pay or community service because I was trying my best to pay. Instead, the judge immediately asked to hear from the JCS officer next to her, who recommended sentencing me to 10 days in jail if I couldn't pay my balance that day. I begged the judge to help me get a permit so that I could drive for work and to give me some more time to pay. Instead she sentenced me to nine days in jail.

I was stunned. I couldn't believe what happened.

All of a sudden, I realized that my mom was going to see me put in handcuffs and taken to jail. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I asked the judge if I could hug my mom. The judge said no. As I was handcuffed and taken to a cage behind the courtroom, I began to cry.

I spent five days in the DeKalb County Jail where it was cold and dirty, and I didn't get enough food. I felt ashamed, scared, and sad during those five days. It hurt to be separated from my family. And even after I was released, I felt scared that police might arrest me and jail me again for no good reason. After all DeKalb County and JCS essentially jailed me for being poor.

What happened to me – and others like me who try their best to pay fines and fees but fall short – is unfair and wrong, but I am standing up for my rights. The Constitution prohibits local governments and for-profit companies from doing what they did to me. I hope this lawsuit will help prevent other people from being jailed just because they are poor.

Kevin Thomson is a plaintiff in Thompson v. DeKalb County.
See more of Kevin's story here.

Learn more about debtors prisons and other civil liberty issues: Sign up for breaking news alerts, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.



https://www.aclu.org/cases/thompson-v-dekalb-county

Thompson v Dekalb County
UPDATED: MARCH 19, 2015

On January 29, 2015, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit challenging debt collection practices that have resulted in the jailing of people simply because they are poor. The case was brought on behalf of Kevin Thompson, a black teenager in DeKalb County, Georgia, who was jailed because he could not afford to pay court fines and probation company fees stemming from a traffic ticket.

The ACLU charged that DeKalb County and the for-profit company Judicial Correction Services, Inc. (JCS) teamed up to engage in a coercive debt collection scheme that focused on revenue generation at the expense of protecting poor people's rights.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled more than 30 years ago that jailing people because they cannot afford to pay court fines is contrary to the American values of fairness and equality embedded in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The court made clear that judges cannot jail someone for failure to pay without first considering their ability to pay, efforts to acquire money, and alternatives to incarceration.
The lawsuit charged that Thompson's constitutional rights to an indigency hearing and to counsel were violated by DeKalb County, JCS, and the chief judge of the local court that sentenced him to jail.

These debt collection practices have had a devastating impact on people of color in the Atlanta metropolitan area. While blacks make up 54 percent of the DeKalb County population, nearly all probationers jailed by the DeKalb County Recorders Court for failure to pay are black – a pattern replicated by other Georgia courts.
Less than two months after the suit was filed, the parties reached a settlement agreement on March, 18, 2015. Under the settlement, Thompson received a monetary payment and the chief judge of the DeKalb County Recorder’s Court agreed to take measures to protect the rights of people who cannot afford to make fine and fee payments required as a condition of probation for traffic and other misdemeanor offenses. The measures include:

Adoption of a “bench card” that provides judges instructions to avoid sending people to jail because they owe court fines and are unable to pay. The card lists the legal alternatives to jail and outlines the procedure for determining someone’s ability to pay.  It also instructs judges on how to protect people’s right to counsel in probation revocation proceedings.

Training and guidance to Recorder’s Court personnel involved in misdemeanor probation on probationers’ right to counsel in revocation proceedings and right to an indigency hearing before jailing for failure to pay fines and fees.
Revision of forms to let people charged with probation violations know of their right to court-appointed counsel in probation revocation proceedings, and their right to request a waiver of any public defender fees they cannot afford.





COMMENTS (22)

Anonymous
Someone I know of in Southern California was jailed for an entire year solely because of inability to pay a traffic ticket. She had no prior "offenses", just the ticket, but she is poor. They jailed her until she could pay. It was her friends who raised the money. I thought it was illegal to jail people for being poor ,in this country. You know, no debtors prison? America is no longer recognizable to me in some very fundamental ways. I thought we'd be farther along by now, not regressing. This scares me and makes me wonder if my life of activism has been a complete waste of time.
REPLY
JANUARY 29, 2015

treedweller
This is one reason privatization of civil justice is a terrible idea. The point of penalties is to enforce compliance. To corporations, it is better to have more offenders and reap more profit.
REPLY
JANUARY 30, 2015
11:43 AM


Marilynn
This is another form of racial profiling and seeking ways to continue to oppress our people of color. I am truly sick and tired of our government using our poor people to make money. People we need to learn and know our rights. We being trick into to the system without committing a crime. Women on the Rise is fighting to dismantle this kind of policing. Contact Marilynn atmarilynn@rjactioncenter.org or Evelyn atevelyn@rjactioncenter.org.
REPLY
JANUARY 31, 2015
11:30 AM



“In December, I was jailed for five days simply because I couldn't afford to pay $838 in traffic fines and fees to DeKalb County and a private probation company called Judicial Correction Services, Inc. …. In October, the DeKalb County Recorders Court ordered me to pay $810 in fines related to the ticket. When I told the judge that I could not afford to pay $810 that day, she put me on "probation" with Judicial Correction Services (JCS) and told me that I had 30 days to pay. Like other people who couldn't afford to pay fines on sentencing day, I was on "pay-only" probation. My driver's license was also suspended for another six months. I did everything I could to pay my court fines and the fees JCS charged me for "probation." Because my license was suspended, I could no longer earn money through paid tow truck driving training, which I had done before. …. When my 30 days were almost up, I went to see my JCS officer. She charged me with violating probation for failure to pay court fines and JCS fees. She also failed to tell me that I had a right to request a court-appointed lawyer at my probation revocation hearing. Instead, she said I would have to pay $150 for a public defender, even though the fee is $50 and can be waived for poor people. …. Instead, the judge immediately asked to hear from the JCS officer next to her, who recommended sentencing me to 10 days in jail if I couldn't pay my balance that day. I begged the judge to help me get a permit so that I could drive for work and to give me some more time to pay. Instead she sentenced me to nine days in jail. …. And even after I was released, I felt scared that police might arrest me and jail me again for no good reason. After all DeKalb County and JCS essentially jailed me for being poor. What happened to me – and others like me who try their best to pay fines and fees but fall short – is unfair and wrong, but I am standing up for my rights.”

“The Constitution prohibits local governments and for-profit companies from doing what they did to me. I hope this lawsuit will help prevent other people from being jailed just because they are poor. Kevin Thomson is a plaintiff in Thompson v. DeKalb County.” The presence of for profit businesses fulfilling a justice role is such a fertile ground for all kinds of corruption that they should be illegal. There are also for profit privately owned prisons, which have been linked to people who have only committed misdemeanors being pulled in to fill their beds and bring in money for the prison. This practice, if legal, is obscene. Enough young men -- usually black or Hispanic -- are ending up in prison because they have poor home training or too few life skills to cope with daily life. See the following article on the use of private prisons. Republican Vice President Dick Cheney was an owner of private prisons, and was indicted for prison profiteering which was involved with abuse of prisoners on November 28, 2008. "Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was also indicted in the prison profiteering scheme, resulting in ongoing prisoner assaults and at least one murder." See the whole story at http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2008/11/cheney-indicted-prison-profiteering-texas.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/25/california-private-prison_n_4157641.html

For-Profit Prisons Are Big Winners Of California's Overcrowding Crisis
By Saki Knafo and Chris Kirkham
10/25/2013

THE FOLLOWING EXCERPTS FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST ARTICLE SUMMARIZE THE CONTENT. TO READ IT ALL, GO TO THE WEBSITE ABOVE.

California's exceptionally powerful prison guard union was waging a fierce campaign against private prison companies, telling voters that the facilities were poorly run and that the industry would take away union jobs. "Public safety should not be for profit," Don Novey, president of the prison guard union, told the San Francisco Chronicle at the time.

Still, David Myers, the president of Corrections Corporation of America, a Nashville-based giant of the for-profit prison industry, believed his company's decision to build a prison in that remote corner of the state would eventually pay off.
"If we build it, they will come," he predicted.
Sixteen years later, as California struggles to relieve overcrowding in one of the nation's largest prison systems, the inmates are coming by the thousands.
Last week, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a three-year deal to lease the CCA prison at $28.5 million per year. The prison is currently occupied by federal inmates and operates at well under full capacity, according to recent reports.

Along with two other private-prison deals inked by Brown in September with a different company, the GEO Group, the move punctuates a period of extraordinary growth for the private prison industry in California. Between 2008 and 2012, CCA's revenues in the state more than doubled, even as the company's growth began to slow in other states throughout the country, according to a HuffPost analysis of the company's annual financial documents.
Advocates for prisoners' rights and their allies in the state legislature say that Brown's investments in the private prison system could hamper efforts to change California's tough sentencing laws so that fewer people go to prison in the first place.
"We keep sending more people to prison than the prisons can handle," said

Overall, California houses about 119,000 prisoners within its borders and thousands more in CCA prisons in other states, and it has one of the most crowded prison systems in the country. In 2009, a panel of federal judges concluded that the in-state prisons were so densely packed that prisoners were dying as a result. The judges ordered the state to reduce overcrowding.
In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ruling, with Justice Anthony Kennedydeclaring in the majority opinion that the lack of adequate space in California's prisons was causing at least one inmate to "needlessly die" every six or seven days.

Brown responded by shifting responsibility for certain nonviolent offenders from the state to county governments. Within two years, the state prison population declined by about 25,000.
But that didn't satisfy the federal judges, who have given the state until the end of February to come up with a plan to further decrease the system's population by about 10,000 inmates. Brown's recent deals with CCA and the GEO Group represent attempts to meet that quota. He's also negotiating with top Democratic lawmakers who hope to scale back the prison population over the next two years by bolstering funding for substance-abuse treatment programs, which are aimed at keeping more non-violent offenders out of prison.
Specter, the Prison Law Office director, argues that private prison deals exacerbate the problem. "Instead of facing the sort of politically tougher questions of how to revise the sentencing structure, the state uses the private prisons as the release valve," he said.

But advocates for criminal justice reform say the state hasn't gone nearly far enough to ensure that prisons are reserved for people who threaten public safety. They argue that California is struggling with overcrowding not because it lacks enough space for all of its prisoners, but because it continues to lock up too many people for too much time.

These critics want the state to meet the federal judges' demands by softening more of its sentencing laws. Under one such law, people caught with a small amount of heroin or cocaine for their own use can end up serving a mandatory sentence of up to three years in a state prison.

"It's outrageous in the 21st century that we still incarcerate people for having a small amount of drugs," said Susan Burton, director of A New Way Of Life, a Los Angeles organization that helps women who have been released from prison. "We know that drug addiction is a medical issue, and still we punish people for having drugs in their possession."

In his current term as governor, however, Brown has repeatedly pushed back against proposals to change the state's sentencing guidelines. Earlier this month, he vetoed a bill that would have reduced sentences for defendants caught with cocaine, heroin and various other illegal drugs. (He said he'd consider including the proposal in a larger package of measures aimed at satisfying the federal court's overcrowding requirement.)

At a press conference in August, Brown said that the state could not further scale back its prison population without releasing dangerous felons. "Public safety is the priority," he said.

But critics say the state incarcerates many prisoners who pose no real danger to the public, including elderly inmates and the terminally ill. And they argue that the governor could safely decrease the prison population by allowing more inmates to earn reduced sentences for good behavior.

James Austin, president of the the JFA Institute, a national criminal justice research group, testified in the state's overcrowding case that California could safely release 22,758 prisoners. Using a computer program developed by the state, he determined that 40 percent of all California prisoners were unlikely to return to prison within three years of their release. Letting them out early would constitute a "safe and effective" way to meet the population target, he remarked in his testimony.

For years, California's prison guard union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, served as a powerful check on the growth of the private prison industry. The union spent millions to support the campaigns of political allies, and launched media attacks that were widely seen as lethal to the political aspirations of opponents.

Now the union and the private companies are partners. Brown's deal with CCA stipulates that the state will staff the private facility with union guards, effectively creating a detente between the former foes. When Brown first announced the deal in August, the union's leader, Mike Jimenez, joined him on stage in a show of solidarity.
Advocates for prisoners' rights and criminal justice reform worry that this alliance could prove particularly damaging to sentencing reform efforts, expanding the prison system for years to come.