Alex Tabarrok of Marginal Revolution notes that while debtor’s prisons are supposed to be illegal in the United States, they have reemerged in a slightly new form through fees charged to criminal defendants and inmates. Failure to pay them, even if you have no means of doing so, often lands people in prison:
Debtor’s prisons are supposed to be illegal in the United States but today poor people who fail to pay even small criminal justice fees are routinely being imprisoned. The problem has gotten worse recently because strapped states have dramatically increased the number of criminal justice fees. In Pennsylvania, for example, the criminal court charges for police transport, sheriff costs, state court costs, postage, and “judgment.” Many of these charges are not for any direct costs imposed by the criminal but have been added as revenue enhancers. A $5 fee, for example, supports the County Probation Officers’ Firearms Training Fund, an $8 fee supports the Judicial Computer Project, a $250 fee goes to the DNA Detection Fund. Convicted criminals may face dozens of fees (not including fines and restitution) totaling a substantial burden for people of limited means. Fees do not end outside the courtroom. Jailed criminals can be charged for room and board and for telephone use, haircuts, drug tests, transportation, booking, and medical co-pays. In Arizona, visitors to a prison are now charged a $25 maintenance fee. In PA in order to get parole there is a mandatory charge of $60. While on parole, defendants may be further assessed counseling, testing and other fees. Interest builds unpaid fees larger and larger. In Washington state unpaid legal debt accrues at an interest rate of 12%. As a result, the median person convicted in WA sees their criminal justice debt grow larger over time.
Many states are now even charging the accused to apply for and use a public defender! As a result, some defendants are discouraged from exercising their rights to an attorney.
Most outrageously, in some states public defender, pre-trial jail and other court fees can be assessed on individuals even when they are not convicted of any crime. Failure to pay criminal justice fees can result in revocation of an individual’s drivers license, arrest and imprisonment. Individuals with revoked licenses who drive (say to work to earn money to pay their fees) and are apprehended can be further fined and imprisoned. Unpaid criminal justice debt also results in damaged credit reports and reduced housing and employment prospects. Furthermore, failure to pay fees can mean a violation of probation and parole terms which makes an individual ineligible for Federal programs such as food stamps, Temporary Assistance to Needy Family funds and Social Security Income for the elderly and disabled.
It’s just another way that our criminal injustice system creates a permanent underclass and locks them in place.
22 comments
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Raging Bee
April 23, 2012 at 9:18 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yet another result of Republican tax cuts.
Chiroptera
April 23, 2012 at 9:38 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Next on the agenda: inheritance of debt by children and workhouses!
Michael Heath
April 23, 2012 at 9:38 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Jailed criminals can be charged for . . . for telephone use . . .
Prisoners are not being charged merely for telephone use, that’s because the marginal cost of one prisoner’s calls is near-zero cents, but instead they’re charged exorbitant fees thousands of percent over the market price, which itself is way over the actual cost.
This fee is clearly a for-profit venture benefiting both the government entity and its private contractor, which also increases the level of cronyism and I suspect, corruption. It is one example of how our justice system encourages the government to increase the number of people incarcerated and the length of time they’re incarcerated rather than focus on reducing the amount of harmful activity which causes other humans to suffer.
I think this data point on its own compellingly presents a case where our justice system is no way interested in rehabilitation, precisely because it makes it effectively impossible for most prisoners to stay in touch with many people on the outside who can provide them with the support they need to help turn their lives around.
cheesynougats
April 23, 2012 at 9:44 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hasn’t SCOTUS ruled that access to representation in court is required? Wouldn’t charging people for a public defender be unconstitutional? Has anyone started the process on this yet?
Aliasalpha
April 23, 2012 at 9:47 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Maybe they’ll introduce some sort of mechanism for paying back the debt, perhaps some manner of indentured servitude. Not slavery of course, completely different!
D. C. Sessions
April 23, 2012 at 9:58 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Don’t worry, transplant technology is improving rapidly.
a3kr0n
April 23, 2012 at 10:17 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
How much longer will we put up with this?
Modusoperandi
April 23, 2012 at 10:25 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Exactly. Clearly what these people need, instead of handouts like “not being sent to prison for not being able to pay fees they shouldn’t be charged in the first place”, is a reduction in the Capital Gains tax.
a3kr0n “How much longer will we put up with this?”
Once people stop voting based on who’ll cut their taxes more.
greg1466
April 23, 2012 at 10:26 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Once again I am sickened, but not surprised, to see that my state of PA is at the vanguard of the Rights charge to lead us back to the dark ages.
augustpamplona
April 23, 2012 at 10:32 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Jail can also be used as a tool for collection:
http://www.startribune.com/printarticle/?id=95692619
michaelgaribaldi
April 23, 2012 at 10:45 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This is retarded; none of these fees could possibly cover the full cost of housing a prisoner. So it’s like you incur another $100 per day in order to beat $1 out of the prisoner. This is moronic.
Who Knows?
April 23, 2012 at 10:49 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Where I live they charge prisoners of the county jail around $70.00 per day and on release they can end up owing thousands of dollars to the county for their sentence. These fees, combined with what they charge for storing people from other jurisdictions has actually made the jail a profit center and the county felt the pain when the jail was shut down for nearly a year after a flood. Getting the jail back in business was a huge priority.
The police chief in the city began charging for all kinds of things. If your business gets a lot of calls, they charge you $100.00 for the police to show up. This is directed mostly at bars. If the police have your car towed, for any reason, there is a $500.00 administrative fee to get your car back. This is on top of the towing and storage costs. They’ve installed cameras to monitor stop lights and speeding, these bring in millions per year.
They have quite a racket going.
Gregory in Seattle
April 23, 2012 at 11:00 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I am running for the Washington House of Representatives. I will definitely look at what is happening in my state and see what I can do to reverse this obscenity.
Akira MacKenzie
April 23, 2012 at 11:00 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I guess Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil,” where the criminals of the film’s Orwellian society were charged for their incarceration, was more prophecy than parody.
carlie
April 23, 2012 at 11:09 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Wait. So you can be charged per day in jail. And when you get out, if you can’t pay the fees you racked up, you get…put in jail. Where you accumulate more fees that you can’t pay. The punishment for which is more jail time. Is there then any way possible to avoid it turning into a life sentence by default?
kermit.
April 23, 2012 at 11:54 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
carlie: Wait. So you can be charged per day in jail. And when you get out, if you can’t pay the fees you racked up, you get…put in jail. Where you accumulate more fees that you can’t pay. The punishment for which is more jail time. Is there then any way possible to avoid it turning into a life sentence by default?
They have no incentive to give you an out. We, the as-yet unimprisoned taxpayers, are more than happy the pay the costs for
debt collection enforecementthe courts and prisons. One way or the other, my paycheck is more and more being shifted to the sociopathic monied elite.kermit.
April 23, 2012 at 11:58 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
From augustpamplona’s link:
“Admittedly, it’s a harsh sanction,” said Steven Rosso, a partner in the Como Law Firm of St. Paul, which does collections work. “But sometimes, it’s the only sanction we have.”
Could have easily been:
“Admittedly, murder is a harsh sanction,” said Steven Rosso, a partner in the Como Law Firm of St. Paul, which does collections work. “But sometimes, it’s the only sanction we have.”
Or:
“Admittedly, kidnapping the debtor’s children and holding them for ransom is a harsh sanction,” said Steven Rosso, a partner in the Como Law Firm of St. Paul, which does collections work. “But sometimes, it’s the only sanction we have.”
JustaTech
April 23, 2012 at 1:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yup. Don’t pay your restitution? Go to jail. And never ask why the person hasn’t paid the restitution, like maybe becasue they can’t get a job becasue they’ve been to jail.
Sometimes it’s all about squeezing money out of a person’s family.
Ace of Sevens
April 23, 2012 at 5:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Discouraging people from visiting prisoners will do wonders for recidivism.
d cwilson
April 23, 2012 at 7:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@Ace of Sevens:
Recidivism is good for the private prison industry.
tacitus
April 23, 2012 at 8:02 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Seems to me that the only way this is ever going to be reversed is if the Supreme Court deems these practices to be unconstitutional. Not holding my breath.
marcbrown
October 12, 2012 at 3:02 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“……..while debtor’s prisons are supposed to be illegal in the United States, they have reemerged in a slightly new form through fees charged to criminal defendants and inmates.”
Simply taking clue from your note I just wanted to attract the readers’ or you might say the debtors’ (to be a bit specific) attention toward a recent press report from The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which says that the age-old concept of debtor’s prison that existed before the Industrial revolution, is making a comeback if not all over the US, at least in some parts of Missouri.
The news might be jaw-dropping, but it’s right as certain borrowers in the St. Louis area have been thrown into jail over nonpayment of personal debt. And it’s really creepy!!
Below given is another instance to reflect the idea:
http://www.ovlg.com/blog/debtors-prison-is-back/