Lawsuit Claims Montgomery Has Debtors’ Prison
A new lawsuit against the city of Montgomery says officials are using traffic tickets to keep people in debt.
The suit alleges police are targeting the poor and putting them in jail for not paying.
This isn’t the first suit like this.
The Southern poverty law center won a case last year against a former company in montgomery for a similar problem.
The city was supposed to stop jailing people for debt, but some say it’s still happening.
Angela McCullough and Rose Simmons have both spent time behind bars because they couldn’t afford to pay traffic tickets.
“Just being incarcerated, some of these tickets were a result of road blocks and I think basically profiling,” said McCullough.
The two are joining others in a federal suit against the city, as well as the current and former police chiefs and a judge.
Attorneys say the city uses traffic tickets and road blocks to oppress the poor.
“If you look at Birmingham and you look at Mobile for the year I think 2013, what you will see is that basically they did 2 or 3 million dollars, 2 or so million dollars worth of business. Montgomery did 16 million dollars worth of business,” said Hank Sanders.
Simmons recently spent about 40 days in jail for tickets, including failure to insure her vehicle and driving without a license. She says when she got out, she was hit with even more of the same.
“These and these! I cannot pay all of this and I am serious, I can’t do this. Something has to give and it has to stop now,” said Simmons.
The city is supposed to offer other options like community service as well as a payment plan for those who can’t afford the tickets. Attorney Faya Rose Toure says judges aren’t telling people that that’s even an option.
“Many people who are subject to these horrific jail sentences, some up to 300 days, children separated, people losing their jobs, some in current emotional problems that they will never get over? I take that personal,” said Toure.
The City of Montgomery’s Attorney Kim Fehl had this to say about the suit, “The City’s only interest is to protect everyone’s rights – the rights both of people who appear in municipal court as defendants and the right of all of our citizens to have our laws enforced. When we are served, we will carefully review the allegations of the complaint and we will respond in the appropriate way.”
