How The US Court System Abuses Poor People With Modern Debtors' Prisons

Debtor's' prisons are back, baby! Something that was outlawed in the United States in the 1800s is making a sneaky comeback. It happens when people locked up in jail are being charged for their time in the criminal justice system. Then they come out with a bill that they probably can't pay back. So the government puts them back in jail because they can't pay.

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Image Credit, Matthew Henry

Image has been cropped and color has been altered.

Messenger: So it started back in 2014 in Ferguson when I was first introduced to this concept of poor people being abused by the courts. In this case particularly poor black people in north St Louis county who often got traffic tickets and other minor offenses and were regularly arrested and rearrested and spent time in jail often because they couldn't afford to keep up with all of these traffic tickets. Many of us as we were watching the protests unveil themselves on the streets in Ferguson and St. Louis became sort of introduced to this idea for the first time of cities using their police forces and their municipal courts as fundraising tools. And then a couple of years later in 2017 and 2018, I came across a couple of cases in rural Missouri involving poor white Missourians in which they were sent back to jail after they had been convicted of a minor misdemeanor. But because they had gotten a bill for their time in jail. and that is a statute that I didn't realize existed. A lot of lawyers that I talked to didn't realize it existed. and every state in the nation except for New Hampshire has a similar statute that allows cities and counties and in some cases state prisons to charge people for their time in jail. And what was happening in Missouri and what I since found out is happening in states all over the country is that people are put back in jail when they can't afford to pay for court costs. Including sometimes a bill for jail. and these fines and fees that are added to the court system primarily for poor people charged with minor misdemeanors create this whole cycle of poverty and debt that is impossible for people to escape. and it is the state using the tyranny of big government to put people in debtors' prison. And as I started writing these stories I would hear from people and get you to know tips on oh my gosh you need to talk to my cousin in dent county and Caldwell county in Saint Francis county. and I found that the poor people in these counties that were the victims of the system all do about it they just figured wow this is the way it works. and unfortunately one of the things I point out in my book is that's how the criminal justice system works all across the country. We have cities and counties using their police departments their municipal courts and their county and district courts as fundraising tools. as backdoor taxes. and the victims are real people charged with minor events who end up having devastating consequences in their lives. because they end up spending time in jail long after they've served their time because they owe a bunch of money that is being collected for a bunch of things that have absolutely nothing to do with the crime they were charged with. Because our governments want to use the courts as a way to raise money.