澳彩开奖 client featured on 鈥楲ast Week Tonight鈥� segment on debtors鈥� prisons
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver tackled the issue of modern-day debtors鈥� prisons by featuring the story of an 澳彩开奖 client 鈥� a grandmother who ended up behind bars after struggling to pay traffic tickets.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver tackled the issue of modern-day debtors鈥� prisons by featuring the story of an 澳彩开奖 client 鈥� a grandmother who ended up behind bars after struggling to pay traffic tickets.
The HBO program examined how low-income people are finding themselves deep in debt and even behind bars as cities turn to private probation companies to collect fines for traffic tickets and other minor citations. These for-profit companies not only collect the fines but charge a fee that goes directly to their bottom line 鈥� a practice that leaves many people trapped in a destructive payment cycle they can鈥檛 escape. 聽exemplifies the abusive practice.
鈥淗er story touches on pretty much everything we鈥檝e seen so far,鈥� Oliver says in the segment. 鈥淗ow did Harriet end up in jail? Well, she struggled to pay traffic tickets, had her license suspended, had to keep driving or she鈥檇 lose her job, was then caught driving without a license, ticketed again, and then had her fines handed over to the good people at [Judicial Correction Services].
Cleveland made $140 monthly payments for traffic tickets 鈥� $40 of which went to Judicial Correction Services, the private probation company in Montgomery, Alabama. When she didn鈥檛 have any money left to give, she ended up spending 10 days in jail. After securing her release, the 澳彩开奖 filed a lawsuit, leading to a settlement agreement that will change the city鈥檚 practices. JCS also closed its Montgomery office.
It may seem like a happy ending, but asLast Week Tonight聽points out in the segment above, there are many more people struggling to pay their fines and stay out of jail as cities continue to run these modern-day debtors鈥� prisons.
JCS operates in nearly 100 Alabama municipalities, and in other states as well.
聽the 澳彩开奖 accused JCS of violating federal racketeering laws by extorting money from poor people in Clanton, Alabama, by threatening incarceration to extract payments. It also accuses the company and the city of Clanton of formalizing their relationship through an illegal contract that violates Alabama law prohibiting the charging of a probation fee in city court.
