The amount of a fine should be based on the income and living expenses of the offender, much like food stamps are calculated based on such figures. There is something wrong with a system that fines everyone the same amount for the same offense, allowing the wealthy to break laws and to pay their fines with a smirk and a shrug while the poorest citizens end up doing jail time for their inability to pay. Private corporations, in any event, should not have any hand in this type of law enforcement; the profit motive cannot help but lead to corruption and abuse of power.

Wonder how those counties would handle a person who has a major medical problem that would cost 10's of thousands to treat? Would they jail them knowing they would be on the hook for the costs? Judge said 1yr in jail or pay $600, guarantee you cost of jailing a person would cost the county much more, especially if you had a major medical emergency.

Bad math on Georgia's part if they think they are saving money by keeping a poor person in prison until they pay the contractor.

Who knows this saving money thing may come down to contract judges too, they have to be a lot cheaper than the ones on the bench now and fewer benefits too.

I find the idea if fines inherently unjust simply people who can least afford to pay them end up being punished more than someone who can afford to pay for the same crime.

Redneck math. collect $600 or pay $20-50K to house a prisoner for a year.

Georgia is a red state, right? This is a great example of how Republicans want "users" of government services to pay their own way...................can't argue with "good business practices" because this and other examples "keep taxes low"

Feed them manure and they will grow!!

Just me,

I think Liberal Girl's point is that if a millionaire and a poor person break the same law that requires a fine, the punishment for the poor person is more severe by nature. Therefore, if the current fine for something is, say $500, it should be $50 for a poor person and $50,000 for a billionaire, making the punishment, in effect, equal.

squaredude, I'm betting they get poor to no care in prison.

Katy M,

But isn't our justice system supposed to be blind? All punishment is equal regardless of race, ethnicity, or income class?

For-Profit healthcare and For-Profit justice: keeping the poor sick and in their proper place.

Just me

perhaps if they didn't do something wrong they would not have to pay these fines.

You beat me to it! It's real simple folks...dont commit crimes and you will not have a problem.

Justme: How can you disagree with a factual statement? The author stated that out of the 30 people waiting all but 2 were black. Are you saying the author saw white people pretending to be black...I don't get it.

Snarky - do you realize that some of these 'crimes' are traffic infractions, such as speeding tickets?

My opinion: for profit companies should never be involved in justice and law enforcement. It creates an interest that fosters excessive punishments and encourages the legal system to incarcerate and punish more people for longer periods of time.

Some elements of government should just not be privatized. Sorry anarchists.

DON'T YOU KNOW PRIVATE THINGS ARE ALWAYS BETTER THAN GOVERNMENT THINGS! I'M WAIVING MY AMERICAN FLAG WHEN I SAY THAT!

Well, here's the deal, duh, SOME things are better done by a government and some thing are better done privately. Things like penal systems, the military, and pretty much anything to do with basic function of health and living in society are done better in government.

I wouldn't explain to pretend, nutjob conservatives any of that, much as I wouldn't bother explaining to pretend, nutjob liberals that not all Republicans are evil. But this isn't meant for your vaporheaded extremists. Just a simple mockery of them for the people who think, and who's vote hasn't been sold.

"the Columbia County Board of Commissioners has not approved a contract with Sentinel since before April 2006, in violation of state laws governing private probation"

It sounds like the officers of Sentinel should be the ones in prison.

Mike277:

Good for the goose, good for the gander.

"the Columbia County Board of Commissioners has not approved a contract with Sentinel since before April 2006, in violation of state laws governing private probation"

So WHO IS IN THIS SPOT NOW?

ALSO: These privatizations NEVER save money. I looks that way in a very superficial way, but the costs are ALWAYS higher to have a private company take over from government. It is called PROFIT. A public body does NOT pad the costs by 20-30% to give the SHAREHOLDERS THEIR MONEY!

Jody lotsanumbers wrote:

"squaredude, I'm betting they get poor to no care in prison."

I note you post quite frequently, and I don't know of another poster who is so consistently WRONG! First, most of these "probationers" are going to be doing jail time, if they are incarcerated. With respect to prison, they DO get medical care, and they DO get dental care.

Go do your homework and stop popping off about subjects in which you have no knowledge.

It truly is a sign that our country is on the verge of collapse when so many seem to think it's perfectly ok to Completely ruin someone life over a minor crime.

This is a threat to the very foundation of American and it's sad that anyone let alone a large groups seems to believe such a practice is perfectly ok.

First of all, I agree with everyone saying if you didn't break the law, you wouldn't be having these problems in the first place.

However, Cult of Personality, the punishment isn't equal. A millionaire can go out and drink and drive as many times as he wants and pay the fines and it doesn't even put a dent in his checking account. A poor person does it once and they aren't able to make their next month's rent and are out on the street. Same crime, very different punishment.

Why don't they go to one of those car title or payday loan places? They always have money for emergencies. Like jail. /sarc/

I think if you did a survey, you would find that this kind of thing is most prevalent in states where the legislature is Republican.

The sale of America to the corporations continues. Of the People, by the People and for the People indeed, because "Corporations are people too, my friend."

Friv

do you realize that some of these 'crimes' are traffic infractions, such as speeding tickets?

And?? If you cannot afford the penalty....Do not commit the infraction/crime!

Redneck math. collect $600 or pay $20-50K to house a prisoner for a year.- Whoa there horsey...slow it down. That's a little harsh.

The amount of a fine should be based on the income and living expenses of the offender, much like food stamps are calculated based on such figures. There is something wrong with a system that fines everyone the same amount for the same offense, allowing the wealthy to break laws and to pay their fines with a smirk and a shrug while the poorest citizens end up doing jail time for their inability to pay. Private corporations, in any event, should not have any hand in this type of law enforcement; the profit motive cannot help but lead to corruption and abuse of power. The amount of the fine should be the same for all- in the case of a DUI, where someone was hurt or the potential for someone to be hurt, jail should be a given, even for Paris Hilton. A fine should be the same amount of money, as the crime is still the same. Don't do it if you can't pay the fine.

For-Profit health care and For-Profit justice: keeping the poor sick and in their proper place.- Health care and Justice are separate issues. Crime is crime is crime...you commit fraud, you go to jail or pay a fine. You drink and drive- you go to jail and pay a fine. No one tells a poor person to drink just like they don't tell a rich person to embezzle. It is an act of consciousness. Health care is different-completely.

If someone that was poor or rich injured a family member of yours during said crime- would you sue them equally? No, you wouldn't. Be honest now- you would sue the pants off the rich person. People were calling for Bernie Madoff's head due to his financial "misappropriations" where no one was killed but this woman, who committed a crime that could have resulted in someone's death, is OK because she is indigent? People need to catch a clue- socialism is not the key to it all, which is what everyone is suggesting on this thread. If you drink and drive, or get into a fight drunk, then you are intentionally taking the risk of hurting someone- NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE. But this woman, due to lack of ability to pay, is okay to pay a $50 fine and be set free to potentially do it again but Paris Hilton has to pay a MIL because she has it? That's moronic and that is why the country is in the sad state it is in today....

Well if she wins, she can move up from a single wide mobile home to a double wide. Something that would not be possible on her welfare and food stamps now.

The government privatization is a giant SCAM aimed at funneling money to companies greasing the politicians pockets. From absolutely deplorable privatization of the US military/defense, to the American justice system. And it costs the government MORE money then when it is done internally.

Katy M

Just me,

I think Liberal Girl's point is that if a millionaire and a poor person break the same law that requires a fine, the punishment for the poor person is more severe by nature. Therefore, if the current fine for something is, say $500, it should be $50 for a poor person and $50,000 for a billionaire, making the punishment, in effect, equal.

you are so very wrong, if the crime is the same for the rich as it is for the poor then perhaps the poor should think twice before committing it if they cannot afford to pay the price. If they both commit the same crime then the punishment should be the same. Doing it the way you are saying it should be done will tell those who are of low income that the penalties won't be so severe because I am poor so I can keep doing this. It is not the fault of the person who is better off that the poor person cannot pay the same amount. Each offence committed should have a more severe penalty whether rich or not to deter the crime from being repeated.

Any of you that defend the privatization of the legal system, with a statement like "if you didn't do anything wrong you wouldn't have to worry about it", have some serious issues. That is like saying, don't go outside and you won't have to worry about getting hit by a car. Your a buncha jerks who claim you know freedom...but, you don't.

dirp

"I think if you did a survey, you would find that this kind of thing is most prevalent in states where the legislature is Republican."

Really? Please explain California.

I do not know every case but putting additional fees on top of already imposed fines is ridicules. I can see Jefferson turning over in his grave at the injustice occurring in these systems. They may have broken the law but additional punishment is not right, especially if it is imposed by non government entities. For profit companies are not judges.

Liberal College Girl........

Next you will say that if a person with money kills someone they should get life but if a poor person kills someone (the exact same crime) they should get probation??? What kind of thinking is that, oh yeah....liberal!

frivolous

Justme: How can you disagree with a factual statement? The author stated that out of the 30 people waiting all but 2 were black. Are you saying the author saw white people pretending to be black...I don't get it.

I will do my best to try to explain it to you since it seems as if you didn't read all of my post. I certainly don't know how you got what you did out of my comment?? Here is the paragraph I am referring to:

On a recent Friday afternoon in Richmond County’s State Court, retired Superior Court Senior Judge Albert M. Pickett presided over about two dozen misdemeanor cases. (Richmond County pays retired judges to sit in when state court judges are away or unavailable). Cases before him included minor shoplifting, traffic violations and drug possession and DUI. At about 3 p.m., nearly 30 people sat with their hands and feet shackled, waiting for their cases to be called. All but two were black.

My thought was what was the point of the paragraph that mentions one day in court that there are more black people than white? Are there more black people in the courts because more blacks break the law, is the community made up of more black people than white and that is why there are more blacks there? Why put this in when it is only one day of court, who is to say that other days it isn't more whites, or more of an equal mix of races. Why is this part of the story when there is no other mention as to whether blacks are targeted over whites? I don't understand what bearing this paragraph has to the story.

I wish her well. This is the problem with privatization. The company made a mistake but the woman gets arrested. No matter it is an error. The prejudicial idiots in every companies HR department in Amerika have that question on you job app: Have you ever been arrested? IF you lie they can use that to fire you any day they want for cause. So the shysters make their stupid errors then use the gubmint through the sheriff to enforce their fee collection. If the Ga legislature was fair, they would have put a penalty in the law for the privatization contractor who abuses citizens through error or intent to harm. Judges could then levy fines against contractors and erase the arrest or let it stand as the case requires.

"do you realize that some of these 'crimes' are traffic infractions, such as speeding tickets?"

Speeding tickets are a graduated crime. Most speeders face no threat of jail time. You get a ticket with a fine. Pay the fine or lose you license. No Jail time. The only way you get jail for speeding is you are going way over the speed limit and are being a danger to other drivers or you choose to drive without a license. Even then you are most likely going to walk out of court with community service and 6 months’ probation. It is ultra-rare for people to get hard time for traffic violations.

The woman in the article committed at least three crimes, she drove under the influence putting her and other drivers at risk, she purchased and transported an illegal substance and then while on probation he failed to pay fines levied by a judge. She deserved to be in jail, she needed to be supervised while on probation and she should have paid the fines or turned herself in to fulfill her term of incarceration. In short she deserved to be arrested.

here is an unheard of idea. Keep out of trouble and don't worry about the consequences. Problem solved!

AleChild,
I agree, and I want them to know what it feels like, when these people get pulled over the next time,I want them to sweat with fear of losing their freedoms.
When these people are in the wrong place at the wrong time, or make a mistake, ....don't worry a private prison or probation/slavery officer is already got their name pinned on a board....we have been cataloged.

I still don't see what wrong with this at all. Why should the law abiding people of Georgia pay for a criminal’s probation? In a nut shell what Georgia is doing is saying it you want probation you will have to pay for it. Otherwise the state will keep you locked up. People that want out agree to pay for the cost of the probation that is then split between Government (to help cover the cost of the incarcerated) and the company that provides the service.

I personal favor this pay your own way policy for all medium and low risk prisoners. They should all have to have some job while in prison that pays at least some of their way. A good start would be to start with every menial no skill job the state pays for today. Why pay someone to sit in prison when you could have them working a road crew, or a highway grass cutting crew, or a janitorial crew. Let the state rent them out to work on farms and refurbish abandoned buildings ect.

There is a lot of good that could be done with these people instead of just making them be a drain on state resources. While they are at it they might learn a skill and maybe a little work ethic.

just me-3905469

@ Liberal College Girl... perhaps if they didn't do something wrong they would not have to pay these fines.

And you are assuming that our legal system is flawless and that simply because someone is accused of a crime means they are indeed guilty.

"When these people are in the wrong place at the wrong time, or make a mistake, ....don't worry a private prison or probation/slavery officer is already got their name pinned on a board....we have been cataloged."

Exaggerate much...........my bad; the answer is obvious.

“And you are assuming that our legal system is flawless and that simply because someone is accused of a crime means they are indeed guilty.”

Wrongful conviction is a different issue entirely. Look at it this way; you would not want to let all murders go free simply because some percent of them are wrongly convicted. Ergo you have to run your penal system under the assumption that all convicted persons must be treated the same.

The issue of wrongful conviction is one for the judicial system not the penal system. Probation is part of the penal system and should not be concerned with guilt or innocents.

D.U.I, possession of marijuana and driving after suspension. All coming out of a trailer park.....I'm shocked!!

@Liberal College Girl

The amount of a fine should be based on the income and living expenses of the offender, much like food stamps are calculated based on such figures. There is something wrong with a system that fines everyone the same amount for the same offense, allowing the wealthy to break laws and to pay their fines with a smirk and a shrug while the poorest citizens end up doing jail time for their inability to pay

Ok, so let's apply that logic to jail time. Should the rich person recieve a SHORTER jail sentence than the poor person?? After all, every day the rich person is in jail he will lose much more income than the poor person would, so an equal jail term would adversely effect the rich person much more than the poor person.

However, Cult of Personality, the punishment isn't equal. A millionaire can go out and drink and drive as many times as he wants and pay the fines and it doesn't even put a dent in his checking account. A poor person does it once and they aren't able to make their next month's rent and are out on the street. Same crime, very different punishment.

I think you are confusing the punishment to the quality of the punishment. By your logic, everyone should pay a different price for bread and groceries based on his/her income.

I am not a liberal, but Katy has the right idea. It is fundamentally unfair to charge the same dollar amount in fines to people of vastly differing economic status. Fines should be administered as a percentage of gross income. As Katy pointed out, where is the incentive to avoid committing offenses for a multi-millionaire if his fine equates to a few minutes work where the same fine equtes to weeks of work for someone who is poor? Lengths of incarceration, however, should see no difference in regards to economic status.

Just me,

you are so very wrong, if the crime is the same for the rich as it is for the poor then perhaps the poor should think twice before committing it if they cannot afford to pay the price. If they both commit the same crime then the punishment should be the same. Doing it the way you are saying it should be done will tell those who are of low income that the penalties won't be so severe because I am poor so I can keep doing this.

And doing it the current way, very clearly is telling rich people that they can keep doing it because the penalty means nothing to them. Poor people can't afford to shell out $50 or $100 every month to commit the same crime every month. Rich people can easily afford to shell out $500 every month.

Assuming that fines are in place for punishment and deterrence, rather than a money making scheme, than the punishment needs to be meaningful for the rich. Not just the poor. If it's just to make money, and the government doesn't care if an infraction/crime is committed, than you are absolutely correct. After all, little else that we buy costs a different amount due to income and this is just paying for the privilege to break the law.

By your logic, everyone should pay a different price for bread and groceries based on his/her income.

Poor argument, as you are comparing fines with purchases. There is already a mechanism in place to deal with disparity involving grocery purchases; it is called the food stamp program.

You are being ridiculous because you appear to be unable to come up with a compelling reason for defending a system of fines in which the poor are more negatively impacted. As I stated above, a more fair system would be fines based as a percentage of income.

I can think of one reason to prefer private companies to public ones: It's easier to sue a private company. To sue the govt, you need their permission to do so, which is....., ahem, seldom given. Some of these folks have legitimate claims, which I hope they pursue.

Yes...if they didn't commit a crime, they won't do the time...but, these are FOR PROFIT private companies. When times get lean, i.e., less crime...what will they do to pad their accounts and keep the doors open? Violate paroles? Something worse? You owe us a total of $735.00 for the following demerits; not keeping toothpaste container aligned properly, not shining shoes, not keeping buttons secured, etc., etc. Ah, the windfall joys of privitization! How do I get in on this fleecing of America? Who's ring must I kiss to obtain a charter?

Backcountry,

the rich person gets their money without even getting out of bed,

it's their money that does all the work of making money which is why they're so greedy with it,

if they were to live with less, they just might have to earn a living the same as the people they claim are paid a fare wage when the person is willing to earn a living but never see it.

I understand what LiberalCollegeGirl is saying and I understand why people are disagreeing with her but I think the issue could better be stated another way. This type of sentencing is in fact targeting the poor and taking more money that they don't have. Here's why: Two people get pulled over for speeding they both appear in court Person A can pay the ticket immediately so they go home after spending 157.00 dollars end of story. Person B doesn't have the 157.00 dollars and asked if they can pay it over the next 3 months. The judge says sure but you have to be on probation while you are making payments. Now the probation company tacks on a start up fee of 15.00, a monthly fee of 25.00 and a home monitor fee of 7 dollars a day. If person B couldn't pay the fine all at once how would they be able to pay all these additional fees. When they can't make the payments they end up in jail all because of a speeding ticket.

Speeding is not a crime it is a infraction so making the argument don't do the crime and you won't get in trouble is pointless in this situation. All of us at one time or another have broken the speed limit. We just all haven't been caught. In any other state this is not a issue but in Georgia the law is different all speeding tickets are treated as criminal charges as stated in the article.

Those unfamiliar with Georgia law may find it surprising that defendants face probation or are jailed for traffic violations that would, in other states, simply require the payment of fines. It’s the only state in the country where traffic infractions are considered criminal charges, though legislators are now considering changing the law for low-level offenses.

I indeed agree with the premise that it is your fault because you committed a crime but not everyone is being treated the same and it is based on weather or not you have money. Some crimes deserve probation but some others really do not and are just a waste of resources.

Also, Cult, justice is not now nor has it ever been blind. We frequently see those in positions of power and wealth receiving grossly unfair consideration when punishments are handed down. In Buffalo, NY, a doctor was recently given one year in jail after a drunk driving hit and run incident where he killed a young girl. A short time later a black man who lacked the status and finances of the doctor was sentenced to 15 years for the same crime. (Personally, I believe both men should have been sentenced to 30+ years for killing someone while drinking and driving.) The point is justice is not blind and it is not equal nor fairly meted out.

in most cases,

the rich can settle the cases without even going in front of any judges,

because the rich just tells the blood sucking lawyers to ask the courts what figures he should write on the check.

This article is liberal propaganda for the poor criminals in society who want a free ride at everyone else expense.

So you all want to pay for prisoners of crime with tax money???... or do you want the criminal to pay for their crimes themselves???

you cannot have it both ways.

the poor can't fart without having someone with influences looking to impose their beliefs on those less likely to be able to defend themselves.

It's not about a free ride for criminals, Shosyn, it's about the fact that those who have money will not go to jail or pay additional fees and fines compared with those who are cash poor. It is a system that punishes the poor more severely.

Cider House Rules.

Well, the poor should be punished more severely. They're poor, so obviously they're undeserving. If they were worthy they'd be rich. /s

Eat the rich.

When you make a law, you should own that law.

the laws are written by the rich, or written by those in the pockets of the rich.

there will never be any laws written by a working class person.

All punishment is equal regardless of race, ethnicity, or income class?

When it comes to money though the impact of the punishment isn't the same in the case of a fine. For a poor person a 500 dollar fine is an entire month's food, for a rich person a 500 dollar fine is a night at the opera. I think replacing fines with community service would go a long ways towards restoring that balance. The punishment for an offense that would normally carry a 500 dollar fine would instead be accomplished by performing 100 hours of community service.

the community service hours to the poor working class is the same as money,

if the poor person is somewhere for a community service program, their time isn't spent on trying to earn a living, so in fact it still taking money from them.

Depends on how the community service is scheduled. Just like work release community service can be scheduled around ones working hours.

it's the same as with Lindsay Lohan being told to do community service,

it works better for a celebrity or a rich person than what it does for a poor person.

the rich person gets publicity in their favor,

the poor person only gets accusations of deserving of what is imposed on them.

@somestillstupid enough to try and earn a living

Backcountry,

the rich person gets their money without even getting out of bed,

That is as @!$%#ing ridiculous as saying the poor person gets their money without getting out of bed because the government sends them their check in the mail.

Those who constantly cry and whine about "greedy" rich people are every bit as idiotic as those who cry and whine about "lazy" poor people. You all need to pull your heads out of your asses, stop parroting rhetoric and join the rest of us in the real world.

the rich person gets publicity in their favor,

Rich people get good publicity for committing a crime and being sentenced to community service????? You've actually managed to con yourself into believing that makes sense??? Is there anything that supports your bias that you wouldn't believe?

Talk about a crying shame. Anyone who gets put into one of Georgia's private prisons is screwed. Have to have medical attention, you may or may not get it. If you do you'll have to pay for it sooner or later, plus a lot of fees and interest. Get put on probation, you're screwed even worse. You aren't likely to ever get 'em paid. What's so interesting about all this is, these are mostly owned by Judges and prosecutors, who then lease them to firms who run them. This is a republican deal. Never saw anything more corrupt. I, along with many others are continually fighting this state enslavement of people, but thus far, the idiots who are most likely to become entangled in it are Its strongest supporters. Fact, most of 'em blame President Obama. Additionally, this mess isn't just in Georgia. It's all over the south, including Florida.

you don't see the media at the soup kitchens recording the average working class person serving their community service hours or cutting a churches lawn,

when has the average working class persons charges been as low as the NFL player who had the DUI and killed the homeless in Florida, less than 3 months.

what about Micheal Vicks conviction of dog fighting, he got even less i believe.

in any case, the rich have everything in their favor because society as a whole has the attention span of a gnat in a blender on high speed.

society is and always seemed to have forgiveness for the rich and celebrities,

but when the same crimes are committed by someone who isn't a celebrity or rich, that person gets crucified til the end of their lives.

and it all has to do with having enough money.

Actually, here's an idea that would keep the punishment the same for everyone and the effect of the punishment more or less the same. Instead of a $500 fine, it is 1.5% of your annual income, based on the prior year. Blind justice can still prevail, while not punishing in an unfair manner.

Katy M,

that would work only if the blood sucking lawyers and CPA's weren't allowed to represent the rich and fudge the rich peoples claims of poverty when they get caught committing a crime.

fas·cism/ˈfaSHizəm/

Noun:

1. An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.
2. (in general use) Extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice.
3. Fascism is the unchecked rule of a class of the privileged, or relatively rich, in power--a full-scale assault on poor and working people. Parliamentary institutions are usually set aside, or so demeaned as to be meaningless. (The Holocaust was legal). Elites issue direct orders, frequently through a populist leader. Wages, any social safety net, working hour laws, labor laws; all come under legal (and extra-legal) attack. The stick replaces the carrot.

By the late 1990s, the system (political/economic system in the United States) entered into chronic crisis. Sharp social polarisation and escalating inequality helped generate a deep crisis of over-accumulation. The extreme concentration of the planet's wealth in the hands of the few and the accelerated impoverishment, and dispossession of the majority, even forced participants in the 2011 World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos to acknowledge that the gap between the rich and the poor worldwide is "the most serious challenge in the world" and is "raising the spectre of worldwide instability and civil wars."

Global inequalities and the impoverishment of broad majorities mean that transnational capitals cannot find productive outlets to unload the enormous amounts of surplus it has accumulated. By the 21st century, the TCC turned to several mechanisms to sustain global accumulation, or profit making, in the face of this crisis.

One is militarised accumulation; waging wars and interventions that unleash cycles of destruction and reconstruction and generate enormous profits for an ever-expanding military-prison-industrial-security-financial complex. We are now living in a global war economy that goes well beyond such "hot wars" in Iraq or Afghanistan.

For instance, the war on immigrants in the United States and elsewhere, and more generally, repression of social movements and vulnerable populations, is an accumulation strategy independent of any political objectives. This war on immigrants is extremely profitable for transnational corporations. In the United States, the private immigrant prison-industrial complex is a boom industry. Undocumented immigrants constitute the fastest growing sector of the US prison population and are detained in private detention centres and deported by private companies contracted out by the US state.

It is no surprise that William Andrews, the CEO of the Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA - the largest private US contractor for immigrant detention centres - declared in 2008 that: "The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the relaxation of enforcement efforts … or through decriminalisation [of immigrants]." Nor is it any surprise that CCA and other corporations have financed the spate of neo-fascist anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona and other US states.

William I. Robinson - Professor of sociology and global studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Everybody likes to talk about how left-leaning liberalism leads to either socialism or communism; however, what no one seems willing to acknowledge is that right-leaning conservatism saddled with it's partnership to capitalism is leading to a new kind of 21st century Fascism where minorities and lower-middle class people are literally indentured to the corporate controlled state.

Fascism really is nothing more than a handful of people in control of vast resources and the institutions that deliver justice. Is this a good approach for our country?

In this news story, it certainly doesn't sound that way. In all our privately run prisons, we now have the rather bleak distinction of being the one country in the world that locks up MORE of our citizens per capita than any other country in the world (including Cuba, N. Korea, Iran, Russia, and China). We will probably be the first country in the world to bring back Pauper's Prisons, and more and more products manufactured in the United States will be coming out of prison manufacturing facilities.

Everybody needs to do our country a favor. This election? Vote out every Republican you can. Next election (2016)? Vote out every Democrat and Republican that you can find. Both parties are already in the pocket of our nation's corporations and lobbying groups.

In 2016, everyone should vote for a Progressive, Libertarian, or Green party candidate IF they're running on these platforms: (A) Maintaining the Separation of Church and State; (B) Creating a separation of Corporate and State; (C) Amending the Constitution to limit the rights of Corporations (denying them the same rights as living, American citizens); (D) Outlawing Lobbying, Special Interest Groups, and PACS/Super-PACS; and (E) Restricting the use of Political Advertising in all medias to only those individuals running for a specific office and restricting the amount of money that they can spend on their media campaigns.

Right now folks, the playing field is NOT level; and we're on the short end of this stick. The poorest members of our society are going to see this first, but don't worry... If you're not a part of the 1%, then you too will eventually feel the sting of this new American Fascism as Corporations start to exert more and more of their control over our government. And over us as well.

@ just me

if the crime is the same for the rich as it is for the poor then perhaps the poor should think twice before committing it if they cannot afford to pay the price.

You do realize that reads as if you think it's all fine and dandy if the rich break as many laws as they like? Who cares if the rich person is speeding, or is DUI, they can afford to pay the fines! Oh, they hit and killed someone too. Errr.....

@Katy

Poor people can't afford to shell out $50 or $100 every month to commit the same crime every month. Rich people can easily afford to shell out $500 every month

Maybe, just maybe people shouldn't commit crimes and they won't have to worry about paying fines. Besides, courts don't do financial background checks on the people appearing in court. This is why fines are one price for everyone. Could you imagine the lawsuits from the ACLU on behalf of the rich people saying they are being pigeonholed because they are successful, and the top 10% of earners continue to pay 98% of all taxes. Where does the class warfare end?

Dawgfan,

Maybe, just maybe people shouldn't commit crimes and they won't have to worry about paying fines

I'm actually less worried about the strain on the poor people for breaking the law than I am on the non-effect of financial punishments on the rich people that break the law. As for taxes, it should be a strict flat tax on everyone. Same rate for all earned and unearned income. No deductions.

dawgfan,

please don't try and tell me that you really think the rich actually pay 98% of all taxes.

i like Katy Ms suggestion, i know a lot of people who believe to same about the flat tax and i agree with her on that,

but the rich would never go for anything like that, they wouldn't be able to hide everything they steal from the rest of society.

@somestillstupid, I bet the rich would go for it. You are talking about a flat tax that would be reasonable for all, and that could possibly put the rate down around 10-12%. I'm all for it. I pay 35% on ordinary income and a flat tax would reduce my rate, while people in the lowest bracket would pay more.

@Katy

You just don't understand our legal system do you? They don't take someone's financial standing into account and treats everyone equally. Seriously. When is the class warfare going to end? I'm getting really tired of it. Especially when Obama critizises the 1% as greedy, but during election time they are his best friend and largest contributors.

Fine Dawgfan,

Here's the only fair solution. Jail time for everything. And that means rich people, too. Time and freedom should have the same value for everyone. You keep talking about class warfare, but statistically rich white people do much less time for the same crimes than poor black people. How is that fair in any sense of the word?

the rich will never allow their wealth to get put in danger of them losing it,

if they don't get the tax breaks, they will just lay off enough people to make up for their taxes.

it's just like, i think it was Leona Helmsly that said " taxes, we don't pay taxes, taxes are for the poor".

and society has gotten full of its share of Leona Helmsly's.

the statistics about whether it's a white person or a black person who spends more or less time is an old argument,

that statistic is brought up to keep the poor of all races fighting amongst ourselves so we're not paying attention to what the rich are doing,

it's pathetic that there are people who aren't rich that will keep the fight going for the rich believing the crap the rich spew, the rich pay enough, the rich do so much for society, the rich need so much more..........

the reason why they're rich is because they keep everyone else fighting for insults between themselves as the rich go dancing to the bank.

@katy m

You keep talking about class warfare, but statistically rich white people do much less time for the same crimes than poor black people. How is that fair in any sense of the word?

It's all situational. Many of the rich white people will hire a lawyer and plea the charges down so that they get probation. Poor black people usually take a public defender, don't take plea deals, or many times have a more extensive criminal background.

They take the public defender because they can't afford a lawyer. You've proved my point that money will get you less jail time.

@katy m

And whose fault is it that the poor can afford a lawyer? Is it my fault that because I built a business at the age of 16 and grew it for 16 years providing well paying wages while making a good living myself. I put myself thru college without the need for loans, and invested in other business ventures, and bought similar competitors. I did all that.

Now a poor person might have a High school education and works at a fast food restaurant. Is that my fault? No, it's their fault. Their personal choices in life.

We are the only 1st world country that does not charge fines based off of an individuals income. Which simply points out that the rich write the laws in this country.

And making our justice system "for profit" is just plain sad.

After this election we need a socialist option....

PAGING Sen. Bernie Sanders...

Dawgfan-4710266...

Well, that depends...

Do you make your money ethically, do you pay your fair share in taxes. Do you pay your employees what they are worth? Or do you take the low road like most business owners these days and say "well its an employer's market so I'll pay people like sh1t?

Or do you buy land rovers and write them off as "work trucks" like Spanky or take non work related vacations and lie about it being about business, like Spanky

I've met alot of business owners in my time. Not very many ethical ones though.

Hal said;

My opinion: for profit companies should never be involved in justice and law enforcement. It creates an interest that fosters excessive punishments and encourages the legal system to incarcerate and punish more people for longer periods of time.

Max said;

The government privatization is a giant SCAM aimed at funneling money to companies greasing the politicians pockets. From absolutely deplorable privatization of the US military/defense, to the American justice system. And it costs the government MORE money then when it is done internally.

Here's an example:

For each person Homeland Security detains, they get $141 per person per night from Congress. That's $51,465 per person per year. A private for-profit prison will warehouse that person for between $40 and $98 a night--between $14,000 and $35,000 per year. They then turn around and pour as much money as possible into lobbyists, who then wine and dine congresspeople int passing more laws widening the pool of applicants. in the meantime homeland security keeps the remaining monies and adds it to their budget (it's part of the reason why their operating budget was $49 million in 2002 and had jumped to $98 billion last year.)

(I know how the private prison system works because I was a guest of one for three years, on a Homeland Security indefinite civil detention detainer. My crime was not having an adoption paper--I was internationally adopted as an infant, never told before my parents passed away in a car accident, so when USCIS lost my adoption paper and came to me for a copy, I was detained as an undocumented (despite having a legal re-issued birth certificate with my adoptive parents names on it, and a legal SS card.) I didn't know i was adopted, much less where the paper had been filed, so they simply told me I would remain in the deportation camp until I gave them a copy of the adoption paper. It took me three years of writing letters to ever courthouse in every state I'd ever lived in before I finally found it and was released.)

John Browning said:

these are FOR PROFIT private companies. When times get lean, i.e., less crime...what will they do to pad their accounts and keep the doors open? Violate paroles? Something worse?

Lobbyists for the private for-profit prisons will wine and dine congressmen into passing more and more laws to widen to pool of applicants. Speaker of the house John Boehner recently asked president Obama for permission for his 33 member Homeland Security Oversight Committee have sole oversight of the Homeland security juggernaut. President Obama refused to grant the request, as shown by recent Congressional hearings into Secret Service and TSA personnel misbehavior (if the request had been granted Boehner and the 33 member committee would have met Janet Napolitano behind closed doors and we would never have heard about it)--but as Boehner was recently campaigning with Ryan, and all are republicans, one does wonder what will happen if Romney is elected...

So in answer to your question, what are they going to do to pad their accounts...you've already seen it; pieces of legislation like the NDAA for FY2012 which decrees for mandatory indefinite detention of non-US citizens suspected of terrorism, discretionary detention for USC's, without needing to be charged with anything or a trial or a conviction.

Then there's the recently passed Restricted Grounds Act (HR347), which makes it a crime to carry out a protest, even a peaceful one, on restricted-access property like government offices, etc.

And there's the upcoming Enemy Expatriation Act that will allow the government to strip citizenship from you if they suspect you're engaging in terrorism/supporting terrorism (not proven, just suspected). It also makes tiny changes to four different articles of US code that broaden the scope of what is considered 'terrorism' or 'supporting terrorism'. It hasn't been passed...yet...and hopefully never will be.If you're an immigrant you can be deported, but if you're a natural-born US citizen with no ties to any other country, it's indefinite detention for you under the terms of the NDAA.

Then lastly you have to go look up what constitutes terrorists these days. Among some of the ones i don't agree with are alternate media, secondary terrorism (you bank with a bank that is suspected of laundering money for terrorist organizations) animal rights activists, Odinists (people who worship the Norse God Odin).

I hope I'm wrong. I hope my prior experiences are making me see shadows that aren't there.

the person who is collecting a check at a "FAST FOOD" joint, is at least serving a purpose, i would rather seeing/hearing about that person getting welfare instead of seeing/hearing about the crack dealers in their customized car getting the welfare checks,

i grew up where there are pawn shops on just about every street corner, and in most cases there's a welfare office in the same shopping center as well, the places where someone trying to earn a living finds better deals on tools when that where the tools end up anyway when most people on job sites are there to support a habit rather than to earn a living.

Appauling. Privatizing the justice system is another very bad idea brought to you by the same minds that are trying to shove Mitt Romney down your throats.

We have the system of separation of church and state (though I'm not quite sure what damage that mix causes) so shouldn't we have separation of justice and profit? The damage from that combination is obvious to anybody and is clearly criminal.

I have to laugh at all the "if you can't afford the fine, don't commit the crime." What are these crimes, speeding? There isn't a damn one of you who hasn't exceeded the limit and you know it. Half the time these limits are ridiculously low and there's a cop hiding ready to nail you because you're 5 mph over on a 15 degree downgrade. Marijuana? Let's not go there, lord knows how much stupidity there is about that substance. DUI? Hmm, interesting, because you could have killed someone? So, punishment just in case. Think about it. Guns are OK, could end a Halloween kid's life but that's OK. Riding a bicycle with no hands could cause a fatal accident but OK. Playing baseball in the street could smash a head, driver's windscreen, infant in stroller but...and so on.

Laws punish the poor. We know that. I don't think we need to pile any more misery on them with stupid attacks about what kind of citizens they should be. When you're at the bottom of the money heap, there are very few changes you can make in your lives. They puff a bit of pot for exactly the same reason the nob hill mob suck down their evening martinis: to forget about their tough day. Live and let die is just a movie, not a creed for real life.

Dawgfan,

You're missing the point. Nobody is blaming you for anybody else's economic situation. But being poor should not automatically mean more time in jail. And being rich should not give you the right to break lesser laws with basic impunity. If you really think your life is so tough because you're rich, give away all your money. After all, it's not my fault that you have so much money. And, by the way, I'm not a socialist, or anything. I think people need to work for their money, not take handouts. But, I also don't believe poor people exist just to get stomped on. And I don't believe that they are second class citizens who should be punished more for committing the same crimes.

Even though the company’s ability to collect the debt had expired when her probation did, she was arrested. Hucks spent 20 days in jail before a judge freed her.

The privatization of the legal process quickly will infringe on the Constitutional and Civil Rights of Americans. The goals of these private kidnappers companies is profit. Thus, these entities have unjust incentives to flagrantly violate our citizens rights. Always, our citizens will vulnerable to being to being re-arrested, being recharged. illegally being incarcerated and languishing in prisons. Chasing the dollar, these for-profit "kidnappers" will look for new and creative ways to apprehend people.

Many people are asking what has become of America, and that is a good question to ask...

Correction:

Always, our citizens will be vulnerable to being re-arrested, being recharged, illegally being incarcerated and languishing in prisons. Money and true justice mimic oil and water, they just don't mix!

Welcome to the Corporate States of America.

Brought to you by..... Citizens United.

And the GOP-appointed members of the Supreme Court.

Funding provided by.... ALEC and its supporting member corporations.

Additional support provided by our GOP friends in Congress. "Working every day to further the goals of the corporations who pay them."

The Republicans love it, this is a snap shot version of how medicare will look shortly. Go ahead privatize... I'll give you two years to be sorry you did.

oh Social Security, etc. give to the rich, take more from the poor. No matter how you slice it. You vote repub not because its the best thing for you or yours, but because you sure hate anyone getting anything that remotely seems to you to be free. smdh

herewego again,

Agreed.

Because of hatred for some of their fellow citizens, many people are nefariously driven to vote for the GOP. The political blindness of these GOP supporters have caused them put a rope around their own necks. These folks that voted for Bush and Cheney probably never thought that they would now not be able to afford to send their kids to college or that their homes would be underwater.

Obama/Biden 2012

somestillstupid enough to try and earn a living

society is and always seemed to have forgiveness for the rich and celebrities, but when the same crimes are committed by someone who isn't a celebrity or rich, that person gets crucified til the end of their lives. and it all has to do with having enough money.

If those on Wall Street and the banking titans that collapsed our economy were held accountable for their crimes, our prisons would be packed.

Damn it people...stop calling it a justice system. It is not a justice system, it is a LEGAL SYSTEM.

Steve

You hit the nail on the head!!!! If it was a justice system scum wouldnt get off on a technicality caused by the LEGAL system

jeff: The United States Constitution is NOT "a technicality."

Healthcare is NOT something government should run. ESPECIALLY the federal government. What works in Mass. will NOT work in South Dakota! At best you have to argue for a state-led approach as every population is different.

Most people can't even fathom the complexity of the claim that the federal government should provide healthcare for all 300+ million people in this country. Once you break it down, it makes absolutely no sense.

And for a group of a few hundred people to think they can outline the rules to do this in a thousand pages of laws is insane.

Doing what is right is to take care of people. But you can do it in a wrong way. We're going to prove that very soon!

Hmmm. I wonder if Canadians said, what works in Vancouver will not work in Montreal? Or in France, what works in Paris won't work in Lyons. Or in England, what works in London won't work in Birmingham. The U.S. is really the only western country that will gladly let its citizens & children suffer and die for want of health insurance. It's obscene. And we're supposed to be the most powerful nation in the world with a primo democratic system and a superior social contract that supports the right to life over the right to rack up profits. I guess that right to life thing only applies to embryos.

Medicare works uniformly across the country, be in in Massachusetts or Alabama.

dirp

jeff: The United States Constitution is NOT "a technicality."

dirp, I seriously doubt you've ever read The Constitution of The United States of America!

KeenInsight, Do you have a job? Do you work for free? There's nothing wrong with profit, everyone expects to get paid for their efforts. Doctors get paid, nurses get paid. The healthcare system in all those places you named is crap and falling apart! It's well documented, check it out for yourself.

OldDog47, so you will not survive unless you make more than someone else? No one is paid "nothing" like what you want to think would happen...obviously you just want more, (and more and more and more) than your neighbor or your going to cry "socialism"...whaaaaaaaaaaa

Czar-o-truth

Healthcare is NOT something government should run.

Yet countries like Germany and Denmark run it and run it well. More smokers... more drinkers yet they pay less per capita for healthcare.

dsb

I know the 'mantra' of many is to privatize just about everything. But there are simply some things government should do. The justice system being the primary one. Infrastructure being a close second. And frankly, health care being next.

The irrefutable fact is that private industry does pretty much everything more effectively and efficiently than does the government. If you disagree with this please provide examples.

When we give the control of our basic civil services over to a for-profit entity we are risking our very freedoms.

How's that? You forget that while this story and the comments that follow focus almost exclusively on the private part of the equation, in this instance government is equally at fault. Private companies can't issue arrest warrants. The idea that government will always look out for us while private companies will always try to screw us is ridiculous. The truth is more often the opposite.

@KeenInsight

Hmmm. I wonder if Canadians said, what works in Vancouver will not work in Montreal?

Hmmm, maybe you should have attempted to answer your question yourself before you posted it.

Health care in Canada is run by the individual provinces with the national government providing basic guidelines.

Or in France, what works in Paris won't work in Lyons. Or in England, what works in London won't work in Birmingham.

Now you are just being ridiculous, France and England are the size of states. Do you honestly believe the people of France should be forced to accept the system adopted in England or vice versa?

Czar OT: Your post is a good argument FOR a national health plan. People and their healthcare needs aren't that different from state to state, but some state plans may be better organized and run than others. Rather than have 50 different state-run health plans, have one national plan that is well designed and efficiently run.

This is not a comment on the story but a question related to the story. Does anyone know what department county or state that controls a probation division? In other words who do probation officers report to, are they government employees of the sheriffs department? If they are private is there any government oversight (surely there must be)? Is Florida a state with private probation? I have a couple relatives that went through it, as a normal process of justice not in leiu of paying a fine. But they think their probation officers were private contract employees. My nephew did get violated for not being able to pay all his fines on time and he did get arrested only one day in jail though. If you know about these things please comment.....

---this system is a scam! I would highly recommend that these people spend their next few hundred dollars moving to another state.

first of all,

isn't called the "CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM"?

that explains a lot about the intentions of the so called legal system that has been a revenue generator for decades,

the general population is just now hearing and finding out about this because the source of their revenue in the past has run out, run dry.

now their idea is to find more and better and creative ideas to get money from the public because everyone raises so much hell over the taxes they pay.

don't think for a minute that the rich will be paying as much as the working class, they never have and never will.

@somestillstupid enough to try and earn a living

don't think for a minute that the rich will be paying as much as the working class, they never have and never will.

Well the actual facts say the opposite but clearly you have little interest in combining facts and "thoughts". Have you ever looked up a statistic in your life or do you pretty much just stick with un-informed bias to form all of your opinions?

statistics are only formed from those who have the money,

the people who don't have the money don't get included in the statistics with the statistics being in their favor,

get a clue.

@somestillstupid enough to try and earn a living

statistics are only formed from those who have the money,

the people who don't have the money don't get included in the statistics with the statistics being in their favor,

get a clue.

You want ME to get a clue?? Well obviously I won't be getting it from you because you don't have a single one. The goverenment tracks such statistics as do many people who try to prove the BS you yammer on and on about.

Please tell me you aren't old enough to vote yet.

Czar-o-truth - this article is not about health care, however if it were you would be guilty of spreading lies and untruths. I can't let your untruths stand without challenge. The government is not going to "run health care" because people will still be paying premiums to insurance companies. Even those who qualify for subsidies because they are low income will still have those subsidies going to the insurance companies that carry their coverage. Having pools of people buying the coverage will help to lower costs. Just as very large companies can offer employee health insurance at a better rate than small companies can, pools will help to lower costs. Lying about what will happen under the AHC Act is a disservice to so many who need health insurance.

Back to the article. The justice system in it's entirety, at whatever level, should never be in private hands. Justice is a guarantee we have in this country and it can't ever be just when it is administered by someone other than the government, as evidenced by this private probation fiasco in Georgia. Georgia has in effect created a "debtors prison" by allowing this company to set fees and requirements that go beyond what those who can afford to pay all at once have to deal with. It is unjust, unfair and I would think- unconstitutional. How can they justify this different set of rules for one economic set different from another economic set? I would think a lawsuit might do well by questioning the constitutionality of such practices.

Montana-450815

Having pools of people buying the coverage will help to lower costs.

A- it obviously won't lower costs for people who don't want insurance

B- forcing insurance companies to cover people they would not have before will RAISE costs.

If you think your health care will be less expensive after the ACA takes full effect you are a fool.

As for the article, if you think government "justice system" doesn't create the exact same problems, again, you are a fool. The difference between private company and the government is simple- a private company can be sued if they screw up, government can not; if a private company fails it goes out of business and is replaced by someone with a better plan, when government fails politicians decided spending more money on the failure is the "solution".

Private enterprise will ALWAYS be more effective and efficient. The few problems that come up are no different than what you find in government, with private industry they are just easier to fix.

or every person demand a speedy trial by jury .....same result.

George Orwell was an optimist.

People think this is limited to people who have done something wrong. But in Georgia, anybody can do something wrong--wrong enough to get a ticket. Those with money will pay and walk. The poor are screwed for life.

Ihave been saying the exact same thing for years. Let corporations have it all, run it like OCP in Robocop.

..

It will be a pleasure and tragic comedy to see people get what they deserve if they elect flippin Romney and lyin Ryan............Red states.......No more money for you, you are losers to the corporation of the U.S.A. my friends!!

There is no justice system. it is a LEGAL SYSTEM.

My Grandfather told this story of why he never would go to Texas again. Back in the early 30's when he was traveling the country on a freight train a Texas sheriff stopped the train, took all the hobos and auctioned them off to the local farmers, this was legal slavery. Fortunately a group with my Grandfather jumped the farmer when he unlocked the barn door (farmer was armed with shotgun) they got on the next train and got out of there. Same attitude today, Texas has a profitable justice system if your one of their buddies.

No wonder these "red" states like Romney..............good businessman.........good profits for the few

Either that or math does not play a large role in the justice system. The government can garnish wages or tax returns to collect money, but instead we get a system willing to pay 50 times more than the fine to imprison someone.

That is indeed an incorrect philosophy. The courts should be designed to ensure that justice is served, and that the public safety is kept, not to make money.

This is the same philosophy that saw cities get rid of cameras at stoplights. IT was not because voters saw them as unfair, but because they actually did their job of producing less people running through red lights, and hence less revenue for busting those who did.

The problem is Privatization does save money for that budget cycle after that it cost the state much more then it did before. By then though the State as already sold off all equipment, fired employees, and otherwise made themselves unable to take on those duties again. Hell Most of the time the equipment is sold to one of the Private companies for pennies.

It's a scam and has been from the start Ya'll want to know why government cost so much more then it did 30 years ago because half of government is Contractors. Contractors protected from normal lawsuits who are charging 10,20,30 times more then when the state was picking up the trash, running the water company, and providing basic maintenance.

People continue to fail at the basic idea of a for profit business. They are not here to make the service cheaper, Not here to make it better.A for profit business is here to MAKE MONEY. That means cheaper for them and more expensive for YOU

Wait a second jimmy, this is happening under Obama also. Why don't we ask the Constitutional scholar about this sorta thing?

Georgia republicans created this system. Republicans favor privatization of everything. Kinda hard to pin this on Obama.

Jeremy Of Michigan The GA democarts tryed to block this as it was a bad idea they weren't even given a chance by the GA GOP. If you read the story the GOP who spearheaded this and got this program through was found to of taken massive bribes from out of state companies looking to expand into GA.

Also this didn't happen under Obama any way you look at it this program is older then 5 years.

Pure Capitalism doesn't care about people only profit. It's why The US system has never been pure capitalism, no counties is. In a pure capitalist economy there ends up being no government you are controlled by "The Corporation". To stop that we have controls in place every country does as Sooner or later the people demand protection from corrupt businesses Like the ones in this story

As the story points out the Jackass that spearheaded this effort in GA was caught taking bribes from these same companies.

Square dude---THANK YOU

I am always telling people, law enforcement is not just racist , IT'S CLASSIST. Middle & lower income, law enforcement does not care about you. Be you black white green yellow or purple, to those in power you are sheep, that need to stay divided so that they can continue to screw us all with no KY Jelly.

REMEMBER PEOPLE - we still have - THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT. Use it or lose it

There's a difference between child support and any other court. The money collected does not go to the court, it goes to responsible parent for child support. In my state the state Support Collection Unit doesn't take a dime from the money received for support.

My daughter's ex works "under the table" jobs to avoid paying child support. You can't garnish illegal wages. She's supposed to collect $41 per week but has received nothing so far this year. Right now, he's under court order to come up with $500 by Nov 1st or face 3 months in jail. I'm waiting to see what he decides. He's such a dirt bag that he might choose jail but he'll still owe the money. So yes, I agree with jail time for dead beat fathers.

@ Don't Care--I know where you are coming from. My ex-husband lives in North Carolina and currently owes over $6,000 in child support. The Judge there keeps letting him get away and slapping him on the wrist. He just spent 30 days in jail a few months ago, but this time, he didn't have to pay a dime. My ex has been working under the table and the company has lied for him. Deadbeat parents should be thrown into jail and have them "work" to start paying what they owe to their children.

Don't Care-2441184

There's a difference between child support and any other court. The money collected does not go to the court, it goes to responsible parent for child support. In my state the state Support Collection Unit doesn't take a dime from the money received for support.

Untrue. The state government gets federal matching money for every support dollar collected. This is free money to the state that they DO NOT have to use for anything related to the support system. They can use it for what ever they want.

Notice that I said that courts are supposed to determine a person's ability to pay? If the court determines that a person has the means, but dose not pay, then they are fair game. As it is, courts complain they do not have the time for such findings and they simply impute what they think a debtor should be able to pay.

Even if you do not agree with what I just said. Here is something you should be able to understand.

In jail, your ex will not be working. Even if he/she is sent on work release there are fees and other expenses that they extract from the debtor for work release, fees that could be going to your children and that WILL impact how much you get and how fast your support is given to you.

When someone is jailed for support the average cost ( at least in my home state ) is $3417 per every 30 days of a person being in jail. That is money TAX PAYERS pay and that dose not include a prisoner with medical needs that can sharply increase the cost and those needs CAN NOT be denied by the government while a person is in custody.

So, now, what you get is say someone owing $6000, it would only take 2 months for person to cost taxpayers MORE then what they owe in support.

I am not saying that people should not face some sort of punishment for willful failure to pay. I am saying that the court is not always good about making a good faith determination of a person's actual ability to pay and jail should NEVER be used to punish none payment of debit. You might not like that, but as states suffer from budget problems and become more aware of how much money they can save by NOT jailing people for civil debit, the instances of jail for any debt of any kind will decline.

I do agree that true " deadbeats " should be punished just as much as I think that " morally bankrupt mothers" should be punished for interfering with custody and instances of move aways with no notification. I do not agree that jail is the answer to either problem though. I think other things that save tax payers money can be done to make sure Moms get their money and dads get time with their children.

Prey on the poor convicted criminals

There, fixed for you...

Snarky68 even you know that a weak defence . Just because you get drunk and make a mistake doesn't mean you give up your rights. These for-profits companies are routinely violating our basic rights to squeeze blood from a stone.

Snarky never had a speeding ticket, so he gets to pass judgement on the rest of us. In Georgia, people that break the speed limit = convicted criminals.

Sadmoron

Snarky never had a speeding ticket,

And you know this how? Talk about passing judgement! I have had tickets and I knew the consequences of speeding if i got caught. I accepted the responsibility of paying my fines and therefore not having an arrest warrant issued on me. If you cant afford the fines, don't commit the crime

break the speed limit = convicted criminals.

Yep! If you don't pay your fines!

Snarky- I'm with you 100% Man! I mean, it's not our fault that we have been blessed with the opportunity to capitalize off of someone else screwing up- right! There are many things that people do that should be penalized because they are just bad for society- like lying, cheating, beating off while visiting porn sites. Bad for the brain, bad for the human spirit- flat out sins. Why don't we do anything about these things!!!!! I'm pretty sure that like me, you've never these things- such acts are completely worthy of the hell fire of absolute damnation!!! We should make such people pay now- this gives them the opportunity for redemption, and us the opportunity to make a little money off of them........(imagine my menacing grin and salivating mouth honey, oh baby, oh baby, oh baby!)

Not to mention the privatized military.

The lines between government and commerce are evaporating. This is not a good thing.

Amen! Government is the only thing out there to control commerce. When commerce controls government - we are screwed.

The marriage of commerce and government is what happened in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Government needs to be the agency that supervises commerce to prevent corruption and abuse. When they get into bed together, it multiplies corruption and abuse and destroys constitutional protections. This is the slippery slope everyone should resist.

Plus, privatization inevitably costs more in the end. As an earlier poster stated, the original bid may cut costs, but once they've been given the contract they are free to raise the price to levels well beyond what it cost the government in the beginning.

Private contracts should be limited to one time jobs, such as building a bridge, etc. not to ongoing endeavors.

Well, it's Florida! What else do you expect?

I am just going to throw this out there. If you are trying to make a legitimate point, as every college person knows never use Wikipedia as a source. The reasoning is because anyone can go in a update information there so it is not a credible source. I am not disputing whether this comment is right or wrong, but please for goodness sakes people stop using Wikipedia and do some research on the subject not just the first thing that pops up when you google a subject.

this is a message board/comments section, not college. wiki is a perfectly legitimate source for anecdotal references. the fact that it is crowd-sourced is a positive, not a reason to avoid it, and this push to de-legitimize it is offensive and an overbearingly orwellian effort at information control.

is wiki wrong occasionally? of course, just like EVERY other source of information available on this planet. should it be used as a source for your dissertation? no, it is not appropriate for something of that caliber.

any college professor that tells you that wiki is not source material is correct, but any that tell you that you should never use it are fools and should be avoided. it's a great, and often the only, place to start for basic information, from 'what was that movie with brad pitt and george clooney called?' to 'how does ibuprofen work' to 'what is a traditional ceasar salad' to 'here's a little bit about a case in florida that proves my point about this topic.....'

Tuna you said SA runs parole, is there a difference in parole and probation or are they two different things? I live in Florida and just have an interest.

One example where it would work- TSA...just saying.

Wow, your bigotry spews forth so easily, One. there's no mention that she's laying around,not working,or that her parents are drunks or that they're living off the system. You're the joke, azzhole.

guess what genius, she's not suing the state so taxpayers won't pay anything. your idiocy and prejudice are showing.

Are you really that ignorant that you need to draw your opinion on her size and living cinditions? seriously? find another venue.

I can tell just by the way that Onelegwonder types that he/she is a convicted child molester and income tax evader.

See how easy that was! No thought required.

It is refreshing to see a racist like you, Sir Kit, finally take your hood off and show your true colors. Go crawl back under whatever rock you came out from under.

I like Rick Scott but that just doesn't make sense. However there have been numerous problems uncovered in our prison system and it seems that good people in the prison system would rather leave if not allowed to do their job. I will make a point to stay aware of possible legislation on this subject.