Courts Reviving Debtors' Prison For Overdue Fines And Fees!!! {With VIDEO On Court Costs} | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 49865757 United States 12/26/2013 04:37 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Judethz User ID: 47012985 United Kingdom 12/26/2013 05:49 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | It's to do with profit. Many states have privatized jails and a part of the deal is that they have to be (I think) 80% occupied, otherwise the state pays a penalty. The USA has the finest politicians that money can buy. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 8996836 United States 12/26/2013 06:04 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 8996836 United States 12/26/2013 06:04 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
No Dhimmi User ID: 46797006 United States 12/26/2013 07:52 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
the gas man User ID: 42208693 United States 12/26/2013 08:16 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | the cost of obamacare, the eventual price increase of utilities from smart meters, being charged by the mile we drive, etc... we will all be there soon. not enough prison space, better build some FEMA detention centers. "Stupid Internet. I don't know why everyone is so impressed with it." - Pamela Anderson |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 42862284 United States 12/26/2013 08:40 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 46552577 United States 12/26/2013 12:34 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | The way the get around the law, Ie outlawing debtors prison, is to charge them with contempt of court for not following a court order. Little do people know that they can challenge the contempt charge. The courts can not hold you contempt for something that you can not possible do. But not many know this. Quoting: talkstory Thank you for this info. |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 46552577 United States 12/26/2013 12:35 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | the cost of obamacare, the eventual price increase of utilities from smart meters, being charged by the mile we drive, etc... we will all be there soon. not enough prison space, better build some FEMA detention centers. Quoting: the gas man This is what is worrying me so much. Everything is coming down on us to create the "perfect storm." |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 46552577 United States 12/26/2013 12:36 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 46552577 United States 12/26/2013 12:37 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
amachiavellian User ID: 49986197 Canada 12/26/2013 12:44 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | It's what they can "fine" you with too that is just amazing. The process to fight is absurd. I never understood at all how locking someone up for a debt could be productive. Well unless you wanted to thin the herd so to speak. — read for knowledge, not answers. |
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Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 46552577 United States 12/26/2013 09:25 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 44534891 United States 12/28/2013 01:02 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | [link to www.foxnews.com] Quoting: Krystal Local courts are reviving debtors' prison for overdue fines and fees...even in minor traffic infractions. Courts across the US are putting those in jail who cannot pay their court costs and fees. As I am writing this, I cannot believe it is happening. When one gets caught up in the justice system there is no end to the fees...fees for this...fees for that. I honestly do not know what people are going to do.___________________________________________________ FROM ARTICLE: As if out of a Charles Dickens novel, people struggling to pay overdue fines and fees associated with court costs for even the simplest traffic infractions are being thrown in jail across the United States. Critics are calling the practice the new "debtors' prison" -- referring to the jails that flourished in the U.S. and Western Europe over 150 years ago. Before the time of bankruptcy laws and social safety nets, poor folks and ruined business owners were locked up until their debts were paid off. Reforms eventually outlawed the practice. But groups like the Brennan Center for Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union say it's been reborn in local courts which may not be aware it's against the law to send indigent people to jail over unpaid fines and fees -- or they just haven't been called on it until now. Advocates are trying to convince courts that aside from the legal questions surrounding the practice, it is disproportionately jailing poor people and doesn't even boost government revenues -- in fact, governments lose money in the process. "It's a waste of taxpayer resources, and it undermines the integrity of the justice system," Carl Takei, staff attorney for the ACLU's National Prison Project, told FoxNews.com. In one of these GLP threads, I read something in someone's signature that stated something like, "Gold is the currency of kings, silver is the currency of gentlemen, barter is the currency of peasants and dept is the currency of slaves". Sounds about right, guess what US? |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 46552577 United States 12/28/2013 08:52 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | [link to www.foxnews.com] Quoting: Krystal Local courts are reviving debtors' prison for overdue fines and fees...even in minor traffic infractions. Courts across the US are putting those in jail who cannot pay their court costs and fees. As I am writing this, I cannot believe it is happening. When one gets caught up in the justice system there is no end to the fees...fees for this...fees for that. I honestly do not know what people are going to do.___________________________________________________ FROM ARTICLE: As if out of a Charles Dickens novel, people struggling to pay overdue fines and fees associated with court costs for even the simplest traffic infractions are being thrown in jail across the United States. Critics are calling the practice the new "debtors' prison" -- referring to the jails that flourished in the U.S. and Western Europe over 150 years ago. Before the time of bankruptcy laws and social safety nets, poor folks and ruined business owners were locked up until their debts were paid off. Reforms eventually outlawed the practice. But groups like the Brennan Center for Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union say it's been reborn in local courts which may not be aware it's against the law to send indigent people to jail over unpaid fines and fees -- or they just haven't been called on it until now. Advocates are trying to convince courts that aside from the legal questions surrounding the practice, it is disproportionately jailing poor people and doesn't even boost government revenues -- in fact, governments lose money in the process. "It's a waste of taxpayer resources, and it undermines the integrity of the justice system," Carl Takei, staff attorney for the ACLU's National Prison Project, told FoxNews.com. In one of these GLP threads, I read something in someone's signature that stated something like, "Gold is the currency of kings, silver is the currency of gentlemen, barter is the currency of peasants and dept is the currency of slaves". Sounds about right, guess what US? Yep, that sounds about right...I hate life. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 51961980 United States 12/28/2013 09:14 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Several years ago, I got a ticket for speeding. I attempted to fight it, and was pushed into a payment plan I could not afford. I had never had a ticket in my life. I explained I could not afford it, but they did not seem to care. They told me they would send me a letter for a court date. I waited, and waited and it never came. I figured they took sympathy on me and waived my fine. Years later, I got another ticket for going three miles over the limit. The ticket was two hundred dollars, once that ticket went through I got a letter notifying me of my unpaid fine which had climbed from 200.00 to 600.00. I was told I had a warrant, and if I did not pay or make an arrangement by a certain day I would be placed in jail. I've never committed a crime, and until I moved here ( Arlington, Tx) gotten a ticket. I went to the court house the next day and stood in line for two hours to "make arrangements". As I did, I was educated. This is common place, they add crazy fines to old tickets over years, and then threaten jail if unpaid. I was able to arrange a payment plan. They did not ask me what I could afford, instead told me I needed to pay 133.33 for six months. Because I neeeded a payment plan, a "service fee'" of 200.00 had been added. Luckily, my ex gave me his credit card, or I would have been screwed. I had to pay that before I left or my warrant would be enforceable. If I missed one payment they would "pick me up". For six months, I lived in fear, and struggled to make the payment. I went without lunch every day, often had no money for gas to get to work, but they got paid. Now I live in fear of getting a ticket here. It's incredible how they can get away with turning two tickets that were 200.00 each into 1000. worth of debt. I was treated like I was a loser. They did not care that I was a single parent who was struggling to make ends meet. At all. |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 46552577 United States 12/28/2013 10:56 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Several years ago, I got a ticket for speeding. I attempted to fight it, and was pushed into a payment plan I could not afford. I had never had a ticket in my life. I explained I could not afford it, but they did not seem to care. They told me they would send me a letter for a court date. I waited, and waited and it never came. I figured they took sympathy on me and waived my fine. Years later, I got another ticket for going three miles over the limit. The ticket was two hundred dollars, once that ticket went through I got a letter notifying me of my unpaid fine which had climbed from 200.00 to 600.00. I was told I had a warrant, and if I did not pay or make an arrangement by a certain day I would be placed in jail. I've never committed a crime, and until I moved here ( Arlington, Tx) gotten a ticket. I went to the court house the next day and stood in line for two hours to "make arrangements". As I did, I was educated. This is common place, they add crazy fines to old tickets over years, and then threaten jail if unpaid. I was able to arrange a payment plan. They did not ask me what I could afford, instead told me I needed to pay 133.33 for six months. Because I neeeded a payment plan, a "service fee'" of 200.00 had been added. Luckily, my ex gave me his credit card, or I would have been screwed. I had to pay that before I left or my warrant would be enforceable. If I missed one payment they would "pick me up". For six months, I lived in fear, and struggled to make the payment. I went without lunch every day, often had no money for gas to get to work, but they got paid. Now I live in fear of getting a ticket here. It's incredible how they can get away with turning two tickets that were 200.00 each into 1000. worth of debt. I was treated like I was a loser. They did not care that I was a single parent who was struggling to make ends meet. At all. This is the story I am so afraid of. It could happen to any of us. Once you get in the system, the system can take you and eat you alive. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 51948549 United States 12/28/2013 11:11 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |