The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country. ^ See, e.g., Sarah Dolisca Bellacicco, Note, Safe Haven No Longer: The Role of Georgia Courts and Private Probation Companies in Sustaining a De Facto Debtors Prison System, 48 Ga. L. Rev. The system now issues more than a thousand warrants each year to order the arrest and immediate incarceration of people who owe court fines and fees unless they pay the full amount of their debts before being booked in jail. I, 13; N.M. Const. Still, as described below, theres reason to suspect such settlements will not completely solve the problem. There are two types: private debt, which may lead to involvement in the criminal justice system, and criminal-justice debt, accrued through involvement in the criminal justice system. In the United States, debtors' prisons were banned under federal law in 1833. . Laws 453. Credit: Michelle Frankfurter, Jacquelyn Martin / AP Photos, Support our on-going litigation and advocacy work. The doctrinal carve-outs for crime suggest that the state bans wouldnt apply to criminal justice debt. Read More. ^ See, e.g., State v. Hopp, 190 N.W.2d 836, 837 (Iowa 1971); In re Wheeler, 8 P. 276, 27778 (Kan. 1885). ^ See, e.g., Davis v. State, 185 So. III, 38 ([A] valid decree of a court . Indigent people who are unable to pay are incarcerated for weeks to months without ever seeing a judge, having a court hearing, or receiving help from a lawyer. Accessibility, A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books, The Collapse of American Criminal Justice, Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department, Criminal Justice Debt: A Barrier to Reentry, In for a Penny: The Rise of Americas New Debtors Prisons, Office of Judicial Servs., Supreme Court of Ohio, Collection of Fines and Court Costs in Adult Trial Courts, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/us/suit-alleges-scheme-in-criminal-costs-borne-by-new-orleanss-poor.html, http://aclu-wa.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Modern%20Day%20Debtor%27s%20Prison%20Final%20(3).pdf, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/23/get-out-of-jail-inc, http://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/case/amended_complaint-_harriet_cleveland_0.pdf, http://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/case/exhibit_a_to_joint_settlement_agreement_-_judicial_procedures-_140912.pdf, http://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Complaint-Jennings-Debtors-Prisons-FILE-STAMPED.pdf, http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/ferguson_police_department_report.pdf, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/us0214_ForUpload_0.pdf, http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/Fees%20and%20Fines%20FINAL.pdf, https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2455850/15-10-09-class-action-complaint-stamped.pdf, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/20/us/for-offenders-who-cant-pay-its-a-pint-of-blood-or-jail-time.html. If debtors imprisonment is unconstitutional, why does it happen? 958, 958 (Ga. 1904))); and Appleton, 71 Mass. ^ See, e.g., Samel v. Dodd, 142 F. 68, 70 (5th Cir. I, 16; Vt. Const. This talk will explore how modern-day debtors' prisons push peoplepredominantly people of colorinto cycles of poverty, debt, and the criminal legal system and will examine promising solutions. 1706, 172729 (2015). Similarly, some collections statutes explicitly redefine certain debts as civil for the purposes of collection. . But how could that be? art. First, infractions known as regulatory offenses, also known as public welfare offenses. The most relevant example is traffic violations, which have played a major role in Ferguson and elsewhere. at 66162. 778, 787 n.79 (1969) (listing sources). It may leave too much discretion in the hands of the same legal actors responsible for the state of play. 1983); Kansas City v. Stricklin, 428 S.W.2d 721, 72526 (Mo. See Richard E. James, Putting Fear Back into the Law and Debtors Back into Prison: Reforming the Debtors Prison System, 42 Washburn L.J. Eliminating the Criminal Debt Exception for Debtors' Prisons art. That decision came in a 1983 case called Bearden v. ^ For a similar analysis, see State v. Anton, 463 A.2d 703, 70607 (Me. Courts emphasize that the contempt lies in failing to comply with an injunction to turn over specific property that is currently under the debtors control.117 And that specific property must also be nonexempt under the states exemption laws.118 An injunction as a general rule is a drastic and extraordinary remedy.119 Accordingly, some states require that creditors attempt execution through in rem actions before resorting to in personam actions.120 Herein lies the attractiveness of the state bans to the civil debtor the protections offered to a qualifying debtor, as a general rule, far exceed those offered to the criminal debtor. at 256 (citing Barnes v. State, 19 Conn. 398 (1849)). In practice, different judges have different criteria for deciphering whether a debtor is indigent. Some judges will determine how much money a debtor has by having him or her complete an interview or a short questionnaire. A building in Accomack County, Va., which served as a debtors prison from 1824 to 1849. The ACLU of North Carolina is a member of the Court Costs and Fees Working Group, which is working to end the practice of modern-day debtors' prisons in North Carolina. art. 479.353(2) (West, Westlaw through 2015 Veto Sess.)) & Mary L. Rev. ^ See William J. Brennan, Jr., State Constitutions and the Protection of Individual Rights, 90 Harv. In 2017, the ACLU of Tennessee challenged debtors prisons by taking on a Tennessee law that requires a person who has been charged with a crime or who has served prison time to pay off all court fees and fines within one year or else have their drivers license revoked. The baseline principle, of course, is that a court may consider a defendants financial resources to inform its decision whether to impose jail time, fines, or other sanctions.161 Without this discretion, courts might impose prison terms unnecessarily, to avoid the risk of assessing a fine on a judgment-proof defendant. . (Oct. 10, 2012), http://static.aclu-co.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2012-10-10-Bender-Dailey-Wallace.pdf [http://perma.cc/5F9Y-U7RC]; Letter from Rebecca T. Wallace, Staff Atty, ACLU of Colo., and Mark Silverstein, Legal Dir., ACLU of Colo., to Herb Atchison, Mayor of Westminster, Colo. (Dec. 16, 2013), http://static.aclu-co.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2013-12-16-Atchison-ACLU.pdf [http://perma.cc/7ZZS-X3RL]. J. Pub. Rev. c. 62) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that aimed to reform the powers of courts to detain debtors . She knew she had not fixed her muffler, and believed that was why she was being pulled over. Do debtors' prisons still exist? | HowStuffWorks 1976) (en banc); Zeitinger v. Mitchell, 244 S.W.2d 91, 9798 (Mo. (9 Allen) 489 (1864)). 753, 767 (1943) (citing as generally accepted the maxim that an act does not make one guilty unless the mind is guilty). . Read More. ^ See, e.g., Nicholas M. McLean, Livelihood, Ability to Pay, and the Original Meaning of the Excessive Fines Clause, 40 Hastings Const. The result is one of the most draconian debtors prisons uncovered by the ACLU since 2010. ^ Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, 130 S. Ct. 2743, 2761 (2010). Court costs and fees are civil, not criminal, obligations and may be collected only by the methods provided for the collection of civil judgments. Office of Judicial Servs., supra note 57 (citing Strattman, 253 N.E.2d at 754). Given that we are looking at a substantial sales tax shortfall, its not an insignificant issue.44, In 2013, the municipal court issued over 9000 warrants for failure to pay fines and fees resulting in large part from minor violations such as parking infractions, traffic tickets, or housing code violations.45 The city also tacked on fines and fees for missed appearances and missed payments and used arrest warrants as a collection device.46, The problem has become especially severe or has at least drawn increased attention within the past several years.47 In 2015, nonprofits Equal Justice Under Law and ArchCity Defenders sued the cities of Ferguson48 and Jennings,49 Missouri, alleging that they were running the equivalents of modern debtors prisons.50 The Ferguson complaint described a Kafkaesque journey through the debtors prison network of Saint Louis County a lawless and labyrinthine scheme of dungeon-like municipal facilities and perpetual debt.51 Equal Justice Under Law and the Southern Poverty Law Center have also sued a handful of other municipalities,52 and the ACLU has pursued an awareness campaign in a number of states, sending letters to judges and mayors in Ohio53 and Colorado.54. at 138. The American tradition of debtors imprisonment seems to be alive and well. ^ Id. art. Debtors' Prison Relief Act of 1792 - Wikipedia 334, 34546 (2001). ^ In some circumstances, courts can exercise their contempt power to imprison debtors for failure to pay civil debts. 1983). In other states, the court simply could not imprison for failure to pay the debt, although it could pursue other execution remedies available at law. infra notes 5559 and accompanying text (discussing judicially created solutions in certain states). See Recent Legislation, 128 Harv. In the latest front in the nationwide fight against debtors' prisons, on June 1, 2017, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a proposed class action lawsuit in federal court to challenge the illegal arrest and incarceration of poor people in Lexington County, South Carolina, without a hearing or representation by counsel. II, 18; Ark. monetary penalties imposed as a condition of a sentence, including, say, a traffic ticket; fees, which may include jail book-in fees, bail investigation fees5, public defender application fees, drug testing fees, DNA testing fees, jail per-diems for pretrial detention, court costs, felony surcharges, public defender recoupment fees, and on and on and on; and restitution, made to the victim or victims for personal or property damage. "M'aidez, m'aidez," says the international distress signal. ^ See, e.g., Joseph Shapiro, Civil Rights Attorneys Sue Ferguson over Debtors Prisons, NPR (Feb. 8, 2015, 9:03 PM), http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2015/02/08/384332798/civil-rights-attorneys-sue-ferguson-over-debtors-prisons (Weve seen the rise of modern American debtors prisons, and nowhere is that phenomenon more stark than in Ferguson and Jennings municipal courts and municipal jails. Def. ^ See, e.g., State ex rel. Read more. ^ See Recent Legislation, supra note 23, at 131619 (criticizing the lack of such a definition in recent Colorado legislation). Thus, under James and Fuller, states cannot discriminate invidiously against at least some classes of criminal justice debtors (note that neither case involved fines) merely by virtue of the fact that the debts arise from a criminal proceeding. I, 21 (No person shall be imprisoned for debt arising out of or founded on contract, express or implied . Debtors' Prisons The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country. Bearden and imprisonment-for-debt claims could operate side-by-side in a manner thats both administrable and functionally appealing. In February 2014, the Supreme Court of Ohio released a new "bench card" giving much-needed instructions to Ohio judges to explain how to avoid debtors' prison practices in their courtrooms. art. . 1999) (The [creditors] are free to collect the judgment by execution, garnishment, or any other available lawful means so long as it does not include imprisonment.). Did the United States abolished debtors prisons in 1929? In 2014, the ACLU of New Hampshire secured the release of three people imprisoned for failing to pay court-imposed fines that they simply could not afford. of Ret. The first line of cases prohibits states from discriminating on the basis of indigence when contemplating imprisonment for nonpayment of criminal justice debt. In Benton County, Wash., a quarter of those in jail are there because they owe fines and fees. Indeed, based upon the state-by-state abolition of debtors prisons in the nineteenth century, the bans highlight the self-determination of states within the federalist structure. . 1, 11; Ga. Const. Also in this category are costs of imprisonment (billed to inmates in 41 states), and of parole and probation (44 states). . (quoting Lamar v. State, 47 S.E. at 13233 (The statutes vary widely in their terms. Id. The Court also likened the classification to the invidious discrimination of Rinaldi v. Yeager, 384 U.S. 305 (1966). A conference called by advocates for the abolition of debtors' prisons voted unanimously for resolutions2 including the understanding that . See sources cited supra note 95. Miss. II, 27; Neb. See sources cited supra note 95; see also, e.g., Mich. Const. . The report documents the routine jailing of poor people across the state solely for their failure to pay court-imposed fines and fees. I, 11; Mont. 939.12 (2014) (defining crime). (5 Gray) at 533 (noting that a major purpose of the statute was to punish fraudulent debtors). What are some types of debt that people are sent to jail for not paying? Read more. art. Most importantly, the 1983 decision in Bearden v. Georgia compelled local judges to distinguish between debtors who are too poor to pay and those who have the financial ability but willfully refuse to do so. In 2016, the ACLU of Maine helped to secure the passage of LD 1639, which includes a critical provision to help curb debtors prisons. And in the face of mounting budget deficits at the state and local level, courts across the country have used aggressive tactics to collect these unpaid fines and fees, including for traffic offenses and other low-level offenses. 899, 902 (Iowa 1932). Debtors' Prisons | American Civil Liberties Union 1971)). ^ A state, of course, could repeal its ban on debtors prisons, but any attempt to do so would create an unlikely coalition of criminal and civil debtors, and the political-action costs of doing so are likely too high. L. 275 (2014). ^ See Bannon et al., supra note 34, at 6. ^ See Armstrong v. Ayres, 19 Conn. 540, 546 (1849); Johnson v. Temple, 4 Del. at 39899; Williams, 399 U.S. at 242. ^ See, e.g., Telephone Interview with Douglas K. Wilson, supra note 7. at 60. ^ See id. Debtors' prisons impose devastating human costs. In response, since 2009, the ACLU and ACLU affiliates across the country have been exposing and challenging modern-day debtors' prisons, and urging governments and courts to pursue more rational and equitable approaches to criminal justice debt. 293, 294 (Ga. 1905) ([I]n enacting the statute now under consideration, the [l]egislative purpose was not to punish . Stat. References: George Philip Bauer, "The Movement against Imprisonment for Debt in the United States" (Ph.D. Peter J. Coleman, Debtors and Creditors in America: Insolvency, Imprisonment for Debt, and Bankruptcy, 1607-1900 (1974). (It may be . Conceptually, then, imprisonment-for-debt claims would regulate the new debtors prisons along a fundamentally distinct dimension and should join Bearden claims as a way to challenge unconstitutional imprisonment. The United States was, after all, the first major nation to get rid of debt prisons in the 1820s and 1830s and embrace "fresh starts" for bankrupts at a time when "debtors were imprisoned. Nevertheless, three specific kinds of criminal monetary obligations might actually be covered by the bans: fines for regulatory offenses, costs, and definitionally civil debts. art. Stories like Clevelands have inspired a naissance of advocacy and scholarship that challenge the legal basis for incarceration upon nonpayment of criminal justice debts.19 But existing approaches have failed to recognize an alternate potential font of authority: state bans on debtors prisons.20 Most commentators have thus far focused on the 1983 Supreme Court case Bearden v. Georgia.21 Bearden held that a court cannot, consistently with the Fourteenth Amendment, revoke parole for failure to pay criminal debt when the debtor has made sufficient bona fide efforts to pay.22 Bearden established a powerful (albeit somewhat vague) standard that protects debtors whose inability to pay isnt willful, by requiring courts to hold ability-to-pay hearings.23 But, as argued below, certain types of criminal justice debtors fall under an even higher degree of protection than Bearden provides. art. art. Debtors' prison - Wikipedia 575, 576 (Fla. 1939); Roach v. Oliver, 244 N.W. So far, the vast majority of academic commentators, litigators, legislatures, and other legal actors have focused on the federal protections extended under Bearden and its predecessors.165 Bearden represents a powerful tool for change, yet state law bans on debtors prisons could provide even greater protections for certain criminal justice debtors where the states interest in collecting isnt penal. 505, 51314 (2001) (describing the massive growth in statutory offenses in several states from the second half of the nineteenth century until the early twenty-first century); cf. ^ See Sarah Stillman, Get Out of Jail, Inc., New Yorker (June 23, 2014), http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/23/get-out-of-jail-inc [http://perma.cc/5SU8-EF72]. In the latest pushback against the national scourge of debtors' prisons, the American Civil Liberties Union filed an October 2015 federal lawsuit challenging the illegal arrest and jailing of poor people in Biloxi, Mississippi, without a hearing or representation by counsel. Theres probably no principled reason to distinguish between attorneys fees and other costs, like a judgment fee or a clerk fee, but doctrinally the Court may have felt especially sensitive to discrimination with respect to assigning lawyers, given its recent decision mandating counsel for indigent defendants in Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963). A. art. Read More. . More problematically, these monetary obligations, unlike most taxes, are not indexed to wealth, income, or any other proxy for ability to pay. Laws 941). During the 20th century, on three separate occasions, the Supreme Court affirmed the unconstitutionality of incarcerating those too poor to repay debt. Legal commentators have long recognized that the federal constitution imposes limits on imprisonment for criminal justice debt under the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses. Next came the fiscal crisis of the 2000s, during which many states were contending with budget deficits and looking for ways to save4. Feb. 8, 2015) [hereinafter Complaint, Jenkins v. Jennings], http://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Complaint-Jennings-Debtors-Prisons-FILE-STAMPED.pdf [http://perma.cc/LM7S-LZW2]. Debtors prisons were outlawed in the United States nearly 200 years ago. In Williams v. Illinois,67 the defendants failure to pay a fine and costs would have resulted in a term of imprisonment beyond the statutory maximum.68 And in Tate v. Short,69 the defendants failure to pay would have resulted in imprisonment when the statute didnt allow for imprisonment at all.70 The Court struck down imprisonment in each case.71 The third and most discussed case in the trilogy, Bearden v. Georgia, struck down the automatic revocation of parole for nonpayment of criminal justice debt.72 Bearden established a bona fide efforts test that asks how seriously one has tried to secure employment and credit, in addition to measuring assets.73 The Bearden line of cases thus endeavors to shield criminal justice debtors making a good faith effort to pay, while leaving willful nonpayment unprotected.74, The second line of cases limits states ability to treat civil debtors differently based on the procedural origins of their debt. In addition, the ACLU asks for a "bench card" to remind judges in all courts across the state that jail is not a punishment for poverty. In 2016, the ACLU of Northern California, along with a coalition of legal organizations, sued the California Department of Motor Vehicles for illegally suspending the drivers licenses of low-income Californians. art. The report documents local courts that have a pattern of criminalizing poverty and perpetuating racial injustice through the unconstitutional enforcement of low-level offenses. ^ Naturally, there may be some overlap between this category and the two mentioned above. It calls for reform through legislative action and court rules. This criminal debt "exception" to debtors' prisons is intimately linked to this country's complicated history regarding debtors and creditors. diss., Harvard University, 1935). Until that time, failure to pay what you owed could and did land you in jail. See J.C. Thomson, Imprisonment for Debt in the United States, 1 Jurid. Part I describes the contemporary problem with criminal justice debt in greater detail. . ^ See Letter from Christine Link, Exec. In July 2015, the ACLU of Michigan filed a motion asking the McComb County Circuit Court to take superintendent control over the courtroom of Judge Carl Gerds, who regularly imposes illegal pay or stay sentences on indigent men and women appearing before him. ^ But cf. The issue reached the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1970s, with two cases in which the Court found it unconstitutional to incarcerate people solely because they could not pay a public debt ( Williams v. the united states abolished debtors' prisons in 1929 I, 14; N.J. Const. ^ Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660, 66869 (1983). ^ Cf., e.g., Miss. ^ See Note, Civil Arrest of Fraudulent Debtors: Toward Limiting the Capias Process, 26 Rutgers L. Rev. Did the US ever have debtors prison? - Promisekit.org
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