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[Piecake]

How private debt collectors contribute to a cycle of jail, unemployment, and poverty

19-year-old Kevin Thompson didn’t think that he was going to jail the day he pulled his car out of the garage to go to his job in an auto-repair shop. He was pulled over for a speeding ticket and found out that he had not properly renewed his license. When Thompson appeared in traffic court, he was unable to pay the $810 fine and was put on a 30-day probation period to pay his ticket. The judge handed his case over to Judicial Correction Services, Inc., a for-profit corporation that oversees the collection of fines and the probation of people who have committed minor infractions, such as traffic tickets.

Thompson met with his parole officer from JCS weekly and made payments totaling $85, most of which he borrowed because he was unemployed. JCS kept $30 of those payments as a fee, so that amount didn’t count toward the total owed. Eventually, Thompson told his probation officer that he was unable to pay, and she informed him that he would have to appear before a judge to have his parole revoked. He ended up in a jail cell for owing $838 in fines and fees.

What Thompson experienced is called “pay-only” probation. It’s part of the growing private business of what’s euphemistically dubbed “incarceration alternatives,” a lucrative industry that ranges from electronic monitoring to drug treatment and halfway houses...

But for people like Thompson, this industry helps contribute to a cycle of jail, unemployment, and poverty. In late January, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against JCS and DeKalb County, alleging that pay-only probation unfairly targeted people who were too poor to pay at sentencing—and were, therefore, likely to be unable to pay later. “Across the county, the freedom of too many people is resting on their ability to pay,” said Nusrat Choudhury, an ACLU attorney who represents Thompson. “We seek to dismantle that two-tiered system of justice, which disproportionately punishes people of color.”

In their current incarnation, private-probation companies operate as debt collectors with handcuffs—and little oversight. According to a report issued last year by Human Rights Watch, “pay-only” probation practices specifically exploit those who are unable to pay a fine on a set court date and must agree to make installments. These installment payments include overhead fees that go directly to the company and compound over time. As a result, someone who is unemployed and lacks resources will ultimately owe more money than someone who is able to pay on their court date. The ACLU has additionally found that these practices disproportionately impact minorities, who end up paying more money in total—and represent a greater percent of the jail population—than non-minorities.

Hiring JCS, which bills itself as “Proven Offender Management,” enables cash-strapped municipalities to collect more overdue fines and increase their available revenue. Human Rights Watch estimates that JCS collects over $1 million in fees every year from people in DeKalb County on probation for minor offenses like traffic tickets. On JCS’s website, a Georgia judge is quoted as saying, “We are now collecting more than 90 percent of our fines, and I see far fewer return visits from those I sentence to probation.”

While the full extent of municipalities’ reliance on fees is unclear, a report by the ACLU points to the growing use of fee collection to balance overextended budgets. The same report points out that the New Orleans Parish Criminal Court collected $1.47 million in fees from private citizens in 2009, amounting to one-third of its total revenue. However, because people like Thompson face jail time if they do not pay, it’s unclear if private-probation companies are actually generating more revenue for the municipalities than the costs of housing someone in jail.

In some jurisdictions, people have been forced to pay for “room and board” for time served in a jail awaiting trial. Called “pay-to-stay,” these practices require people to pay for staying in jail—even if they haven’t been convicted yet—on top of costs of toilet paper, clothing, and medical care. One county in California even allows jail inmates to pay for “premium” jail cells for an optional $155 daily fee. Because minorities often have less wealth and fewer economic opportunities, these policies disproportionately affect them.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/02/locked-up-for-being-poor/386069/

Absolutely disgusting. Debtors prison is back in business and apparently it is a very lucrative one.

(Channeling inner politician) The only victims are poor people and criminals, so who cares! I mean, it is more important that we give tax cuts to the wealthy or at least not raise their taxes. That would just be bad politically! I mean, who cares about justice and the long-term health of our citizens when political issues and short-term funding issues are on the line?

 

[Coconut]

That's lame but I mean first he was speeding and didn't have a renewed license like all this could have been avoid if he just wasn't speeding.

 

[Aurongel]

That's lame but I mean first he was speeding and didn't have a renewed license like all this could have been avoid if he just wasn't speeding.

A life of cyclic poverty isn't what Id call justice for going over the speed limit.

 

[Piecake]

That's lame but I mean first he was speeding and didn't have a renewed license like all this could have been avoid if he just wasn't speeding.

So, jail and a fine that the person cannot afford is a not completely unreasonable punishment for speeding and not having a renewed license?

Yea, I think that is insane.

 

[Thequietone]

That's lame but I mean first he was speeding and didn't have a renewed license like all this could have been avoid if he just wasn't speeding.

So, he should be punished for being too poor to afford a drivers license? Even if he was speeding this isn't justice, this is injustice in the name of profit.

 

[Princess Carl]

That's lame but I mean first he was speeding and didn't have a renewed license like all this could have been avoid if he just wasn't speeding.

How can you be so fucking obtuse?

 

[Coconut]

A life of cyclic poverty isn't what Id call justice for going over the speed limit.

I acknowledge that but also if you don't want to get into trouble don't do things that will get you in trouble. Either way you break It he couldn't afford getting a speeding ticket.

 

[Courage]

I acknowledge that but also if you don't want to get into trouble don't do things that will get you in trouble. Either way you break It he couldn't afford getting a speeding ticket.

That's kinda missing the point.

 

[Ferrio]

Ya guys, don't speed unless you can pay for it duh. Only the rich get to break laws.

 

[MJLord]

I acknowledge that but also if you don't want to get into trouble don't do things that will get you in trouble. Either way you break It he couldn't afford getting a speeding ticket.

He wasn't thrown in jail for speeding though was he. He was thrown in jail for not being able to afford to pay a ticket.

 

[Saganator]

Doesn't surprise me. I once spent a night in jail for an unpaid fine. The cops were glorified debt collectors for the state in that circumstance.

 

[Anno]

Its not like collection agencies have some ability to incarcerate people. This sucks but I think we should be blaming the local governments for terrible policy, no?

Either way this is pretty abhorrent.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Dat first reply troll.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

Ya guys, don't speed unless you can pay for it duh. Only the rich get to break laws.

I'm sure Coconut despises the way we're all bent over for the benefit of the rich every minute of our lives, and has some life changing insights into that as well.

That whole "don't break the law" message is just so simple, but at the same time, so brilliant. He/She should write a book and go on tour.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

That's lame but I mean first he was speeding and didn't have a renewed license like all this could have been avoid if he just wasn't speeding.

Your lack of basic human empathy is appalling.

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.

Yeah, just stay out of trouble jeez what's with all these people breakin' our laws and shit amirite.

 

[Coconut]

That's kinda missing the point.

Even if this guy didn't get sent to a third party if he couldn't pay the ticket a warrant would be issued for his arrest and he would likely spend time in jail.

The implication with pay only means the alternative is still spending time in jail.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

Just let him go to work and pay it back over time, stop being evil.

 

[Ferrio]

Even if this guy didn't get sent to a third party if he couldn't pay the ticket a warrant would be issued for his arrest and he would likely spend time in jail.

Still missing the point.

 

[Zhengi]

People should be allowed to do community service to pay off such fines. Fuck the government for being greedy assholes with such bs ticketing.

 

[Coconut]

Still missing the point.

If I missing a point you should maybe explain it.

 

[TAJ]

People should be allowed to do community service to pay off such fines. Fuck the government for being greedy assholes with such bs ticketing.

But business wouldn't get their cut unless you made community service for-profit...
/doesn't like where that's going

 

[family_guy]

Didn't know the inability to pay was a criminal matter. If I got sued by someone and they won the judgment, I'm not being sent to jail because I can't pay. It just goes on my credit report.

 

[Tesseract]

this is why i completely ignore debt collectors

mail --> trash
calls --> blocked
personal visits --> lol

suck my broke american eyeballs, collectors

 

[Gentleman Jack]

People should be allowed to do community service to pay off such fines.

They are allowed. If they're white/privileged/have connections/have money.

 

[JDSN]

That's lame but I mean first he was speeding and didn't have a renewed license like all this could have been avoid if he just wasn't speeding.

This is why its only gonna get worse.

 

[Piecake]

this is why i completely ignore debt collectors

mail --> trash
calls --> blocked
personal visits --> lol

suck my broke american eyeballs, collectors

No knock raid --> Poor Tesseract

 

[YoungFa]

Pay for jail time for a crime you aren't even convicted of? That is some third-world corruption level bullshit.

 

[Tesseract]

No knock raid --> Poor Tesseract

they can't do that in my state, not when i owe everything to the dollar and jump through every loophole

Pay for jail time for a crime you aren't even convicted of? That is some third-world corruption level bullshit.

yup, it's crocodile shit

 

[Ferrio]

If I missing a point you should maybe explain it.

Because saying "well he did the crime..." leaves out the part that someone with money gets away pretty much unscathed, while someone who doesn't have the funds can get royally fucked. In the end people who are poor get the odds stacked up against them even more, and people with money are able to do the shit without barely any consequences.

Not to mention locking them up does what exactly for us? "Don't be so poor?"

 

[MJLord]

If I missing a point you should maybe explain it.

Read the tons of comments above.

The dude couldn't pay a fine. Instead of giving him more time to come up with the money and pay back over time the state decided that the most reasonable place to put him was in jail. A place that's supposed to be where the worst offenders of the law go, not people who can't pay tickets.

 

[Vengrim]

$810 bucks for a speeding ticket and out of date license? Everything else aside, maybe people would be more likely to pay if you didn't charge them the equivalent of working 100 hours at minimum wage (before taxes) for extremely minor offenses.

 

[Coconut]

They are allowed. If they're white/privileged/have connections/have money.

Actually community service is a thing to get these days even if you are the above.

1. Insurance reasons

2. Interfering with state and county contracts with some unions.

3. Judges are straight up dick heads.

 

[speculawyer]

Ah . . . the glory of privatizing much of our justice system.

 

[Syriel]

Because saying "well he did the crime..." leaves out the part that someone with money gets away pretty much unscathed, while someone who doesn't have the funds can get royally fucked. In the end people who are poor get the odds stacked up against them even more, and people with money are able to do the shit without barely any consequences.

Not to mention locking them up does what exactly for us? "Don't be so poor?"

Pretty much.

I know people here in San Francisco that use white zones as their personal reserved parking spot when going out on the town at night.

Why?

Because they know that:
1) The City will NOT tow from a white zone.
2) The ticket is just a fine (no points on the license).

Rather than deal with parking or valet, they just accept the ticket as the cost of going out and pay it.

That right there is a perfect example of a two-tiered system of enforcement.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

$810 bucks for a speeding ticket and out of date license? Everything else aside, maybe people would be more likely to pay if you didn't charge them the equivalent of working 100 hours at minimum wage (before taxes) for extremely minor offenses.

This is an issue too.

I've gotten ticketed once in my entire life. I was moving and I had been up for a crazy long time, I didn't watch my speed and I was going five over. The officer claims he was going to let me go, but I was speeding "in a school zone" (it wasn't during school hours, so it wasn't relevant).

250 bones for that shit. I couldn't afford it and had to put some of my stuff in the goddamned pawn shop. My financial situation was terrible at the time, though I was still at the least able to make ends meet.

Your post (and the original story, of course) is just further proof how much more life is stacked up against the poor, and it's pig fucking disgusting.

 

[Anno]

Pretty much.

I know people here in San Francisco that use white zones as their personal reserved parking spot when going out on the town at night.

Why?

Because they know that:
1) The City will NOT tow from a white zone.
2) The ticket is just a fine (no points on the license).

Rather than deal with parking or valet, they just accept the ticket as the cost of going out and pay it.

That right there is a perfect example of a two-tiered system of enforcement.

Out of sheer curiosity, what is a white zone? Do you just mean an area of the city that's predominantly white? Or is it some kind of formal zoning within the city?

 

[Coconut]

Out of sheer curiosity, what is a white zone? Do you just mean an area of the city that's predominantly white? Or is it some kind of formal zoning within the city?

The loading and unloading of passengers.

 

[Alchemy]

American prison system is totally fucked and is completely disgusting. Anything "for-profit" involved in it is just mind boggling and should be illegal.

 

[Syriel]

Out of sheer curiosity, what is a white zone? Do you just mean an area of the city that's predominantly white? Or is it some kind of formal zoning within the city?

It's the curb color:

Red Zone = NO PARKING WHATSOEVER (you'll get your ass towed)
Yellow Zone = Commercial Loading, 30 minute limit
Green Zone = 10 minute parking (so you can run in to a shop, grab something and go)
White Zone = 5 minute personal loading/unloading
Blue Zone = Handicap only

http://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/parking/curb-colors

 

[entremet]

What's happening to this country. The obsession to incarcerate is disgusting.

 

[Coconut]

Because saying "well he did the crime..." leaves out the part that someone with money gets away pretty much unscathed, while someone who doesn't have the funds can get royally fucked. In the end people who are poor get the odds stacked up against them even more, and people with money are able to do the shit without barely any consequences.

Not to mention locking them up does what exactly for us? "Don't be so poor?"

The big problem is then well how do you appropriately punish someone and once you star making accept ions in the rule for one person it starts opening precedent for other folks to bend the rules for them.

 

[Piecake]

What's happening to this country. The obsession to incarcerate is disgusting.

Its profitable for some people. It just so happens that these people are richer and more politically connected than the people who are being put in jail. Counties also have a strong incentive to do it because of drastically reduced funding from the state. About their only option to pay for services that are now not covered are property taxes and fines.

Our only hope is to create enough backlash to stop this idiocy.

The big problem is then well how do you appropriately punish someone and once you star making accept ions in the rule for one person it starts opening precedent for other folks to bend the rules for them.

Who said anything about exceptions or holes? Lower fees for everyone, find new revenue resources, defintiely do not outsource fee collection to a for-profit company, and do not jail people for failing to pay for fines that they can't pay. Put them on a long term payment plan or some other shit.

it is not complicated.

 

[KalBalboa]

If I missing a point you should maybe explain it.

People are being imprisoned for being poor and then fined for being imprisoned.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

The big problem is then well how do you appropriately punish someone and once you star making accept ions in the rule for one person it starts opening precedent for other folks to bend the rules for them.

You're not even addressing the point when it is spelled out for you. Exceptions are already made for people up and down the justice system. Cops let off people who break the speed limit all the time. A judge's mercy seems to matter on whether or not they've eaten lunch yet. Whether or not you receive leniency is part luck and part a bunch of other factors that have already been listed. This guy just happened to be black and poor and guess what? The justice system is stacked against exactly those two things. Bleating about people having the rules bent for them is completely moot.

If you're poor and can't pay the eight hundred dollars, you're handed off to a private agency that 1) Makes it harder, not easier, to pay back the fines 2) lies to you about your rights to a public defender and 3) Throws you in jail anyway.

 

[esms]

Not the same, but this desire to imprison can work out beneficially for those affected. I know a homeless dude in passing who commits minor crimes when there is a deep freeze going on so he can spend some time in a heated prison eating food.

Kind of sad what our society has come to.

 

[Coins]

I speed all the time, no seat belt and I have a headlight out. I also dont use my state issued front plate and instead use a Navy vet plate (which is illegal).

I never get pulled over. Wait, thats not true. I got pulled over for doing 97 going across the Jefferson Barracks bridge between St. Louis and Columbia, IL. Got a warning and a thank you for your service, sir.

Im a young white vet.

My black coworker gets pulled over for his window tint all the time. He drives like a grandpa.

Hes a black, 43 year old federal employee.

 

[MikeyB]

Just another instance of what has been true for a while...

 

[Coconut]

Its profitable for some people. It just so happens that these people are richer and more politically connected than the people who are being put in jail. Counties also have a strong incentive to do it because of drastically reduced funding from the state. About their only option to pay for services that are now not covered are property taxes and fines.

Our only hope is to create enough backlash to stop this idiocy.



Who said anything about exceptions or holes? Lower fees for everyone, find new revenue resources, defintiely do not outsource fee collection to a for-profit company, and do not jail people for failing to pay for fines that they can't pay. Put them on a long term payment plan or some other shit.

it is not complicated.

Lower fees so the rich can really break the rules with no consequence. It being for profit or not wouldn't change anything about this. If you can't get arrested for not paying fines than we might as well have like no rules at all. Long term payment plan whst is long term could you get a 30 year payment plan?

It's actually REALLY complicated.

 

[SnakeSlashRO]

this is why i completely ignore debt collectors

mail --> trash
calls --> blocked
personal visits --> lol

suck my broke american eyeballs, collectors

Or don't write checks your ass can't pay?


Real talk, avoid debt... Debt means you owe something you are on contract to pay back. Don't be that guy.

(This applies not to the story in OP, but debt because of unnecessary loans or material garbage)

 

[Tesseract]

Or don't write checks your ass can't pay?


Real talk, avoid debt... Debt means you owe something you are on contract to pay back. Don't be that guy.

(This applies not to the story in OP, but debt because of unnecessary loans or material garbage)

or medical bills