Sessions rescinds fines and fees warning
A few months ago, I had occasion to interview a man who, at age 18, stole a cheap video game system from a department store. […]
Justice
Attorneys: Plaintiff in ACLU case handcuffed to hospital bed
But while in jail, he was denied proper medication, twice blacked out and ended up in the emergency room for dangerously low blood pressure even as he was cuffed to his hospital bed, according to the amended complaint.
South Carolina towns ignored pleas to help defend the poor, ACLU says
The American Civil Liberties Union’s latest debtors’ prison lawsuit accuses two South Carolina cities of declining or ignoring requests to help fund public defender services […]
SC top judge: 6th Amendment violations “continually” a problem, orders reforms
“It has continually come to my attention that defendants, who are neither represented by counsel nor have waived counsel, are being sentenced to imprisonment.”
Deportation fears in Georgia fines case
Under the federal rules of civil procedure, the names of the parties of a lawsuit ought to be disclosed, but there are rare times when […]
Arch City: Woman jailed 27 days over unpaid traffic tickets
The lawsuit, filed October 10 in US District Court of the Eastern District of Missouri against the City of Arnold, says officials jailed Qiana Williams […]
Conflicts and contracting out justice debt collections
More local governments are turning to private collection companies to recoup overdue court fines, but it’s a model that raises serious conflict of interest concerns […]
ACLU: Despite law, Debtors’ prisons persist in Colorado
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado issued a scathing report this week that found Colorado municipal court judges operate with almost no state oversight, […]
South Carolina official sued by ACLU warned of problems years ago
More than four years before the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit accusing Lexington County, South Carolina officials of running “modern day debtors’ prison,” […]