Punishing the Poor

Punishing the Poor

“I got picked up by the police this past weekend,” a guest told me Tuesday morning.  “A guy jumped me and we got to fighting and the police came by and arrested me for disorderly conduct.  I spent the night in jail and Monday morning the charges were dismissed.  Though now I’ve got court costs of ninety dollars.” 

            “Courts costs?” I asked, “But weren’t the charges dismissed?”

            “Doesn’t matter.  I owe them ninety dollars.”

            I was incredulous.  I asked a few other guests who were sitting or standing around, “This ever happen to you that your charges are dismissed and you still have to pay court costs?”  Everyone confirmed this is standard practice.

            “So the police can just arrest people and the court costs can be imposed even with the charges dismissed?”  Yes, they said, that’s the way it goes.

            I don’t think it takes much to imagine that this practice is open to abuse.  I don’t think it takes much more imagination to see that this practice burdens people who are poor or homeless more than people who have some wealth. Just one more way our society is set up to punish the poor.

            The criminal justice system is particularly adept at such punishment that lands harshest upon people who are poor.  Since 2010, 48 states in the U.S. have increased criminal and civil court fees.  

For those in jail there are inflated charges for phone calls.  There is also the inflated cost of commissary items like toothpaste, socks, and other basics.   The poorest prisoners get none of these items because they have no one to put money on their “book” for commissary.  And I got a letter recently from a Manna House guest currently behind bars.  “Don’t put any money on my book” he wrote, “I won’t see it.  It will just go to the county for the money I owe them for fines and court costs.” 

If you’re out of jail the costs continue.  There are monthly fees for being on probation and for parole supervision.  If you can’t pay those or fall behind, you go back to jail.

            I wonder if Mary got a bill for Jesus’ court costs and execution? 

            This past week I got word through the No Exceptions Prison Collective that a mother who is dying of cancer was trying to get to Tennessee to visit her son who is imprisoned here.  She is poor and doesn’t have the money to make the journey.   Manna House made a contribution to support efforts to bring her for this visit.   It is a common problem that poor families can rarely if ever visit their loved ones in prison because they don’t have reliable means of transportation. 

            I find it interesting how much of the New Testament pays attention to courtrooms and prisons.  Jesus’ trial is the most famous (and receives the lengthiest description).  But you don’t have to go far into the Acts of the Apostles or the Letters of Paul to find references to arrests, court appearances, and imprisonments.  Hebrews urges, “Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them” (Hebrews 13:3).   Jesus identifies with those in prison, “I was in prison and you visited me” (Mt 25:36). 

            The persecution of the poor in our jails and prisons is a pretty good indication of just how far we are these days from those New Testament concerns.