US Prisons filled with nearly 2.5m and Counting – record numbers imprisoned for being too poor to pay
Debtor’s Prison
The United States Supreme Court in Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660 (1983), made it clear that courts cannot imprison an indigent person for failure to pay a criminal fine unless the failure to pay was “willful.” Too often, however, this constitutional rule is ignored. Courts across the South routinely impose substantial costs on already poor people who are struggling to get by, then incarcerate them for being too poor to pay.
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