Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?

[theHandpuppet]

From today's Cincy Enquirer: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060208/NEWS01/602080364

(Excerpts)

Judge: Poor wrongly jailed
Some served time for unpaid fines they couldn't afford
BY DAN HORN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Hamilton County violated the constitutional rights of poor people for more than 20 years by sending them to jail for failing to pay minor fines, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Most of the poor defendants were charged with minor infractions, such as traffic violations, and at least 600 of them spent one or more nights in jail.

As many as 100 people were locked up because they owed fines of $20 or less. The decision means that Hamilton County taxpayers could be forced to pay damages in the tens of thousands of dollars...

... "These people are the last people on earth who deserve to be in jail," said Robert Newman, the Cincinnati lawyer who sued on behalf of those who were jailed. "These are the poorest of the poor. The only reason they are going to jail is they have no money."

MORE...

[CTyankee]

1. Haven't you heard?

It is a crime to be poor in this country. Not only that, if you are poor and lose your life in New Orleans because of Katrina, it is your fault for not getting an education so you can get out of poverty and be able to have transportation out of the storm's way. So the government (FEMA)shouldn't help you, you good for nothing scum.

So we lock you up in Cincy. You were poor anyway, jail is probably a good deal for you, with meals and all. :sarcasm:

The above is just a rehash of what I have heard over the last few months from O'Reilly and his cohorts, with a little Babs Bush thrown in.

This is so disgusting I feel sick at my stomach.

[acmejack]

2. This is standard practice around the Country!

Or at least around the South. Give me a half an hour and I can come up with a hundred people just in this one County in Texas (Travis, yeah, we're the "liberal" one). It is very common practice to make people serve off their fines at some amount of money per day which varies per jurisdiction. I thought this was the practice everywhere.

[theHandpuppet]

5. I wasn't aware of that

If so, this is an outrageous policy and I would be surprised that the ACLU hasn't tackled it yet.

Ah, yes, America... where the most blatantly unscrupulous thieves like Ken Lay walk around as free men whilst some poor sucker owing a $20 traffic ticket goes directly to jail. Of course, in this country being poor is treated like a moral failing, unlike the rich who steal people blind. What a crazy set of values we have in this nation!

[acmejack]

6. My brother is experienced in such matters.

He explained it to me. Different jurisdictions have different rates, so some are apparently more desirable to serve one's time since aday is more valuable. A day served may actually be worth two or even three days of the sentence, except in a Federal case where all terms are day for day.

It is a strange world of which (thankfully) I have very little knowledge.

[Mnemosyne]

3. .

[Deja Q]

4. The return of the debtor's prison?