ACLU: Judges Illegally Lock Up Poor Defendants Who Can’t Pay Fines

The ACLU of Michigan is challenging jail sentences imposed on five people across the state, , who the group says were incarcerated because they are too poor to pay court fines.

In each instance, the judge failed to hold a hearing that would prove the person was too poor to pay, or give the defendant the option of a payment plan or community service, the ACLU said.

“Long thought to be a relic of the 19th century, debtors’ prisons are still alive and well in Michigan,” Kary Moss, the ACLU of Michigan’s executive director, said in a press release. “Jailing our clients because they are poor is not only unconstitutional, it’s unconscionable and a shameful waste of resources. Our justice system should be a place where freedom has no price and equality prevails regardless of a defendant’s economic status.”

Over the last two weeks, ACLU attorneys said, they’ve witnessed district and circuit court judges dole out “pay or stay” sentences in seven counties: Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Montcalm, Muskegon, Kent and Ionia.

The legal challenge to those sentences was made Thursday when ACLU attorneys filed motions for the individuals to be released on bond.

While many judges view the collection of fines and court costs as a revenue stream, the ACLU said, the costs of incarcerating indigent defendants for failing to pay typically costs taxpayers more than the amount collected.

“In the face of mounting budget deficits, states are aggressively targeting poor people, and minorities often bear the burden,” Elora Mukherjee, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, said in a press release. “These modern-day debtors' prisons impose devastating human costs, waste taxpayer money and create a two-tiered justice system.”

The U.S. and Michigan constitutions forbid debtors’ prisons and the jailing of individuals who cannot pay court fines and fees because they are poor, according to the ACLU, which said it has been investigating “modern-day debtors' prisons in Michigan” for nearly two years.

In the Wyandotte case, was sentenced to 90 days in jail by because he could not pay $1,250 in fees and court costs related to charges for spanking his girlfriend’s son on the buttock.

His girlfriend was charged with the same misdemeanor offense; however, her parents paid her costs, and she was not jailed.

A 27th District Court employee said no one would be available to discuss the case until Monday.

The other four defendants in the ACLU appeal are:

• Kyle Dewitt, 19, of Ionia, was sentenced to three days in jail by Ionia’s 64A District Judge Raymond Voet because he was unable to pay $215 in fees after being ticketed for catching a fish out of season. He was released from Ionia County Jail on Wednesday pending a trial after the ACLU intervened.

• Kristen Preston, 19, of Ionia, was sentenced to 30 days in jail by Voet because she could not pay a $125 alcohol assessment fee stemming from a charge of being a minor in possession of alcohol. She was released on Wednesday, as well, after the ACLU intervened and is now awaiting sentencing.

• Dorian Bellinger, 22, of Detroit, was sentenced to 13 days in jail by Livonia’s 16th District Judge Robert Brzezinski because he could not pay $425 in fines and court costs for a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge.

• Dontae Smith, 19, of Detroit, was sentenced to 41 days in jail by Ferndale’s 43rd District Judge Joseph Longo because he could not pay $415 in connection to several driving offenses, including driving with a suspended license and impeding traffic.