Well that old adage about you get the justice you can afford has just added another chapter written in the tears of the poor, who discover every day that poverty itself is a jailable offense.
No need for too much comment, the article from the Washington Post is pretty clear.
Probation Fees Multiply as Companies Profit
. . .It is, rather, about the mushrooming of fines and fees levied by money-starved towns across the country and the for-profit businesses that administer the system. The result is that growing numbers of poor people, like Ms. Ray, are ending up jailed and in debt for minor infractions.
“With so many towns economically strapped, there is growing pressure on the courts to bring in money rather than mete out justice,” said Lisa W. Borden, a partner in Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, a large law firm in Birmingham, Ala., who has spent a great deal of time on the issue. “The companies they hire are aggressive. Those arrested are not told about the right to counsel or asked whether they are indigent or offered an alternative to fines and jail. There are real constitutional issues at stake.”
What kind of a country have we turned into?
Mr. Bright, of the Southern Center for Human Rights, said that with the private companies seeking a profit, with courts in need of income and with the most vulnerable caught up in the system, “we end up balancing the budget on the backs of the poorest people in society.”
Here is more of our Grover Norquist/Ayn Rand/Republican Dystopia. Soon we'll be aspiring to be merely Dickensian. Where are the Democrats? Where is Justice? Where is basic humanity and decency?