Private probation company imposed additional fees or jail to indigent.
Harpersville, Alabama - A county judge in Alabama has temporarily shut down a system in a town near Birmingham where people fined for speeding and unable to afford the ticket are handed over to a private probation company and sometimes sent to jail, where additional fees are imposed.
Judge Hub Harrington of Shelby County issued the order this week, saying that he was “appalled” by what he characterized as a “debtors’ prison.”
“From a fair reading of the defendants’ testimony, one might ascertain that a more apt description of the Harpersville Municipal Court practices is that of a judicially sanctioned extortion racket,” he added. “Most distressing is that these abuses have been perpetrated by what is supposed to be a court of law. Disgraceful.”
Judge Harrington was responding to a class-action lawsuit alleging that constitutional rights were violated by the town and the company, Judicial Correction Services, based in Georgia, because inability to pay a fine is not a legitimate basis for jail, according to several Supreme Court rulings. The New York Times reported on the lawsuit this month as part of an article about the aggressive use of fees and private companies by towns and court systems seeking income.
Judge Harrington ordered a preliminary injunction against the town and company, calling their officials to a hearing on Aug. 20. He also barred any further detention in local jails of those placed on probation without his written permission. He ordered that anyone convicted in Harpersville Municipal Court be given 30 days to pay the fine without further fines or fees being imposed by the probation company.
The judge wrote in a scathing five-page order that he reviewed sworn statements filed by Burdette's lawyers during the Fourth of July holiday and was appalled by the evidence he saw of systematic abuses in Harpersville.
The judge found evidence that the city would turn over to the private probation company, Judicial Corrections Services, cases in which Municipal Court defendants could not immediately pay the court-imposed fine and costs. Many defendants later were locked up, some on bogus failure-to-appear complaints, resulting in more charges that led to more fines, court costs -- and more debt, the judge wrote.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/14/us/judge-in-alabama-halts-private-probation.html?_r=3&ref=us
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/07/judge_halts_debtors_prison_by.html
Burdette v. Harpersville ruling:
http://media.al.com/spotnews/other/Judge%20Hub%20Harrington%20order%20to%20Harpersville.pdf