From Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/miss-traffic-ticket-go-jail-return-debtor-prison-hard-times-usa
Thought debtor prison ended in the 18th century? Think again.
By Alex Kane
February 3, 2013
Editor’s note: America has a long history of treating the poor like criminals, from legislation banning the transportation of poor people across state lines to anti-vagrancy laws that could land you in jail if you didn’t have a job or a home. We’ve come to rely on the criminal justice system to deal with the poor, even as more and more Americans fall into poverty. The following is part of a series that looks at the diverse ways poverty is criminalized in America, such as laws targeting the homeless, the surveillance of welfare recipients, the re-emergence of debtor’s prisons, and extreme policing tactics like stop-and-frisk.
Kawana Young, a single mother of two kids, was arrested in Michigan after failing to pay money she owed as a result of minor traffic offenses. She was recently laid off from her job, and could not pay the fees she owed because she couldn’t find another source of employment. So a judge sentenced her to three days in jail. In addition, Young was charged additional fees for being booked and for room and board for a place she did not want to be. In total, she has been jailed five times for being unable to pay her debts.
“It doesn’t make sense to jail people when they can’t pay because they definitely can’t pay while they’re in jail,” said Young.
Debtor prisons seem to belong in America’s past. But if you think the existence of prisons for people who can’t afford to pay their debts in the past, think again. Young’s ordeal, profiled in an American Civil Liberties Union report, began in 2005, after she was ticketed because she was driving without her license. It all came to a head in 2010, when Young was arrested because she did not pay off all of her debts from traffic violations. That arrest led to the judge ordering Young to jail due to her inability to pay off the money.
Continue reading at: http://www.alternet.org/miss-traffic-ticket-go-jail-return-debtor-prison-hard-times-usa
See also Salon:
Report: Unpaid rent can lead to arrest in Arkansas
Human Rights Watch finds hundreds of tenants face criminal charges when they fail to vacate
By Natasha Lennard
Friday, Feb 8, 2013
A report published this week by Human Rights Watch (HRW) explores a unique, punitive law in Arkansas that burns hundreds of beleaguered renters in the state every year. According to the 44-page report, “Pay the Rent or Face Arrest: Abusive Impacts of Arkansas’s Criminal Evictions Law,” Arkansas tenants have been “dragged into criminal court for transgressions that would not be a crime in any other U.S. state” under the failure-to-vacate law, which allows criminal charges to be brought against individuals late on rent payments who fail to vacate the rented property. Via HRW:
Complete article at: http://www.salon.com/2013/02/08/report_unpaid_rent_can_lead_to_arrest_in_arkansas/singleton/
