Isn't it great to know that Slavery in the south is alive and well.

[Amazon 7]

http://www.thenation.com/article/178845/town-turned-poverty-prison-sentence#

They always seem to find a way to keep it alive....Murica.

[BillyVance 35]

That little shithole is about 25 miles south/southwest of me on US231/US280. My wife got a ticket there years ago, but she plead no contest, paid her fine in court without points added to her record, and it was over with, and yes her judge was Ward.

I always watch my speed whenever I have to drive through there.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[mirage62 0]

Yep, get hit by someone who doesn't have insurance and see how YOU feel about people DRIVING wo insurance.

Kevin Keenan is my hero, a double FUP, he does so much with so little

[kallend 2,175]

mirage62

Yep, get hit by someone who doesn't have insurance and see how YOU feel about people DRIVING wo insurance.

I was, last January.

Hit be from behind while I was stopped at a red light.

(Traffic lights, as any thinking person knows, are the work of Satan.)

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[oldwomanc6 60]

I'm surprised the cop let her drive the vehicle away.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[Arvoitus 1]

I love how cigarettes are considered essentials for poor people. I guess the quicker they drop off dead the better.

Your rights end where my feelings begin.

[rhaig 0]

while some of these situations might be questionable as to how they got the fines racked up, the arrests and jailings for non-payment don't sound anything like slavery to me (I only read the first few cases... if there is something more like slavery towards the bottom, I may recant later).

I've been offered fine or a scheduled weekend in the county lockup (time vs money would have totaled about $9/hr). I paid the fine, but strongly considered the weekend.

"Slavery" is a nice negative headline word. I still don't see how it applies.

--
Rob

[airdvr 210]

What I love about articles like this is they gloss over the reasons a person got themselves into the position they currently occupy. I'm sure it sucks for her but that's what happens when you ignore your responsibilities. Wait until the IRS gets wind of her.

The officer said she had a taillight out.

He asked to see her license. Ford didn’t have one.

...she failed to pay a court judgment against her for a traffic ticket in a nearby town.

She hadn’t worked since being in a car wreck a decade earlier, surviving instead on disability payments of about $670 a month.

Though she knew she shouldn’t, Ford...regularly climbed behind the wheel of her old Chevy.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[BIGUN 1,503]

I think my biggest issue is with the outsourcing of incarceration.
It should not be a profit thing.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[BillyVance 35]

BIGUN

I think my biggest issue is with the outsourcing of incarceration.
It should not be a profit thing.

That and piling on fines every day, making it impossible to keep up/pay off.

Thankfully, the state took over the Harpersville court system and put an end to the practice due to the outrage. Though I'm not sure what the status is right now. It hasn't been in the news lately. I didn't read the story that Amazon posted fully. I remember when the state got involved. That was when it hit the news.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[Amazon 7]

BIGUN

I think my biggest issue is with the outsourcing of incarceration.
It should not be a profit thing.

Halleluiah Brother

The other brothers are missing that point.. prisons for profit.. and charging people at $31 a day to people who can barely feed themselves means they are SOLD into a situation that they will never be able to get out of.
The other brothers are missing the point that certain connected people are getting rich on selling off their PO neighbors off into slavery.

We have certain laws to avoid this kind of crap that the Founders knew all too well having seen the English Laws and debtors prisons that existed in their times.

If it quacks and waddles.... I guess its a whale????

[Amazon 7]

BillyVance

***I think my biggest issue is with the outsourcing of incarceration.
It should not be a profit thing.

That and piling on fines every day, making it impossible to keep up/pay off.

Thankfully, the state took over the Harpersville court system and put an end to the practice due to the outrage. Though I'm not sure what the status is right now. It hasn't been in the news lately. I didn't read the story that Amazon posted fully. I remember when the state got involved. That was when it hit the news.

The private company is expanding its services across the south and into other red states in the mountain west I do believe.

When the Justice system is for sale... there will be very little justice.

Think on it Brother.

[jakee 1,610]

rhaig

I've been offered fine or a scheduled weekend in the county lockup (time vs money would have totaled about $9/hr). I paid the fine, but strongly considered the weekend.

The problem seems to be in these situations that it's not a choice. When they put you in the lockup not only does the fine remain payable but it is increased because they've charged you the cost of locking you up. By this point it starts to sound a bit too Kafkaesque if there's no way to escape the feedback loop.

So then you have a fine that's twice the size of the fine that you couldn't pay in the first place, obviously you still can't pay it so you then face more court bills, more bailiff's bills and more jail bills because they'll have locked you up again and charged you for it again.

Slavery is an emotive word but if the details are accurate it certainly sounds like something approaching indentured servitude.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[BIGUN 1,503]

"Why Ford Drives a Chevy"

1. It is a much bigger issue and not just in the south.
2. When one is incarcerated; they are usually levied fines on top for recompense to a Victims fund (I get it).
3. Then the for-profits tack on a per day rate,
4. Even when they work within the system, they don't make enough for the per day rate,
5. So it goes on their account,
6. They get released through a work program and/or a halfway house for the transition,
7. The halfway house charges a per day rate,
8. That gets charged to the court,
9. Who then puts that on their account also,
10. If and when they get a job, they're lucky to make minimum wage,
11. The government takes the taxes off the top,
12. The court takes up to 40% of what's left to apply to the account,
13. Now, go forth and live on what's left.

So what do most do?
Go back to what makes them money under the table,
They get caught,
Go back to Step 2.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[airdvr 210]

Amazon

When the Justice system is for sale... there will be very little justice.

Missed the OJ trial didn't you?

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[billvon 3,132]

>I love how cigarettes are considered essentials for poor people.

Heck, skydiving is considered essential by some poor people in the sport.

[Fast 0]

rhaig

while some of these situations might be questionable as to how they got the fines racked up, the arrests and jailings for non-payment don't sound anything like slavery to me (I only read the first few cases... if there is something more like slavery towards the bottom, I may recant later).

I've been offered fine or a scheduled weekend in the county lockup (time vs money would have totaled about $9/hr). I paid the fine, but strongly considered the weekend.

"Slavery" is a nice negative headline word. I still don't see how it applies.

Yeah, you missed the problem wholeheartedly.

It's infeasible to get out of jail (where you can't earn money) when you were put in jail because you didn't have enough money AND they charge you more money for being in jail. The whole thing is wildly outside basic human rights.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[rhaig 0]

Fast

Yeah, you missed the problem wholeheartedly.

The problem is people being charged for being fed and housed in jail.

Quote

It's infeasible to get out of jail (where you can't earn money) when you were put in jail because you didn't have enough money AND they charge you more money for being in jail. The whole thing is wildly outside basic human rights.

and it still doesn't amount to "slavery" but it's a nice high value word to attract emotional (instead of logical) discussion.

--
Rob

[SkyDekker 1,465]

It is if they are forced to work for less than they are charged.

[Amazon 7]

That all depends on which... "FOR PROFIT" corporate jails they find themselves in.