Skip navigation
Prison Legal News
× You've used up your 3 free articles for this month. Subscribe today.

Fines and Fees Destroy the Impoverished and Perpetuate Mass Incarceration

Loaded on Jan. 15, 2025 by Douglas Ankney published in Prison Legal News January, 2025, page 1
Filed under: Effects of Mass Incarceration, Ability to Pay. Location: United States of America.

by Douglas Ankney

“I was young. I couldn’t pay for my ankle monitor. I went to jail because I couldn’t pay for my ankle monitor. And then they let me back out again on my ankle monitor that I couldn’t pay for.”—Dante Bristow, 23, who was arrested in …

 

Full article and associated cases available to subscribers.

As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.

Subscribe today

Already a subscriber? Login

More from this issue:

  1. Fines and Fees Destroy the Impoverished and Perpetuate Mass Incarceration, by Douglas Ankney
  2. From the Editor, by Paul Wright
  3. After Florida Appellate Court Holds Crimes of ‘Attempt’ Eligible for Incentive Gain Time, Supreme Court Refuses Review, by Kevin Bliss
  4. Eighth Circuit: Evidentiary Admissibility Is a “Red Herring” At Class Certification of St. Louis Jail Conditions Challenge, by Douglas Ankney
  5. Hep-C Treatment Needed in Los Angeles County Jails to Save Lives and Money
  6. Senate Votes to Increase Penalties for BOP Contraband Cellphone Smuggling
  7. With Eleventh Circuit Okay, Alabama Executes Third Prisoner by Nitrogen Hypoxia
  8. Washington Prisoners Prep for Firefighting Career After Release
  9. Pennsylvania Prisoner Released from Solitary After 15 Years
  10. Suits Filed Over Dehydration Deaths at Two Texas Jails, by Matthew Clarke
  11. Biden Commutes Sentences of Most Federal Prisoners on Death Row
  12. Blood in the Water Author Wins Censorship Challenges Against Illinois, New York Prison Systems, by Douglas Ankney
  13. Video of Autistic Ohio Teen’s Jail Death Undercuts Sheriff’s Report Calling It Suicide
  14. Six Set Themselves on Fire at Virginia Prison in 2024
  15. Two-Week Lockdown at BOP Women’s Prison in Minnesota After Nine Overdoses, Two Deaths
  16. Fifth Circuit Leaves Louisiana Prisoner Waiting for Reinstated Parole, by Douglas Ankney
  17. Nebraska Pioneers Diversion Program to Help Arrested Veterans Avoid Jail
  18. Maryland Cancels Debt Owed by 6,715 Parolees
  19. California Prisoner Awarded Over $1.26 Million in Suit Challenging Withheld Legal Mail Which Resulted in Habeas Loss, by David Reutter
  20. Ninth Circuit Greenlights Muslim Hawaii Prisoner’s Challenge to Early-Served Ramadan Meals, by Douglas Ankney
  21. Texas Executioners Playing Fast and Furious to Obtain Lethal Drugs
  22. Details Vague on Spending from San Diego Jail Detainee Welfare Fund
  23. Lawsuit Over Death or Severe Injury of 29 Houston Jail Detainees Survives Motion to Dismiss, by Matthew Clarke
  24. Mentally Incompetent Maine Defendants Sent to South Carolina Wellpath Lockup Called “Essentially Prison”
  25. Muslim New York Prisoner’s Free Exercise of Religion Claim Reinstated, by David Reutter
  26. Wisconsin DOC Under Fire for Hiring Censured Doctors
  27. $400,000 Jury Verdict for Medical Neglect Resulting in Amputation of Alabama Prisoner’s Toes
  28. Minnesota Prisoners Getting Scanned Mail, Kept Waiting 18 Months for Tablets
  29. Wellpath Declares Bankruptcy
  30. Fourth Circuit Revives West Virginia Prisoner’s RLUIPA Claim Over Religious Diet with Soy He Can’t Digest
  31. No Charges in Alabama Prisoner’s Torture, Rape and Murder
  32. Guard Pleads Guilty to Using Excessive Force at Indiana Jail Sued Nine Times in Two Years
  33. Pigeonly Flies Into Telecom Turbulence, Declares Bankruptcy
  34. BOP Prisoners in Alabama Strike to Protest Release Date Confusion
  35. Tenth Circuit Affirms PTS Driver’s Conviction for Torturous Detainee Transport
  36. Pennsylvania Jail Guards Accused of Ripping Surgical Pin from Detainee’s Shoulder
  37. Illinois Sheriff Resigns After Deputy Fatally Shoots 911 Caller
  38. Arizona DCRR Ordered to Fill Prison Medical Staff Vacancies—Again, by Matthew Clarke
  39. Four-Month Wait for 40 Percent of South Carolina Jail Detainees Needing Psychiatric Evaluation
  40. Oregon Supreme Court: Governor Can’t Revoke Commutation After Sentence Expires
  41. Eighth Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity to Missouri Guards in Transgender Prisoner’s Suit Alleging Retaliation and Unreasonable Search, by Douglas Ankney
  42. 150 People Sue Over Past Abuse at New York City Juvenile Facilities
  43. $1.5 Million Settlement Reached for Oregon Prisoner’s Untreated Traumatic Brain Injury
  44. Former Tacoma Reentry Center Severs Washington DOC Contract
  45. Fourth Circuit: Baltimore County Prisoners May Qualify as Employees under FLSA, by David Reutter
  46. Childhood Trauma Incidence Higher Among Those Incarcerated, by Anthony Accurso
  47. Nearly $12 Million Paid to Mentally Disabled Indiana Prisoner Wrongly Convicted of Murder, by Douglas Ankney
  48. “Locked In, Priced Out”: Markups and Kickbacks in Prison Commissaries
  49. With HRDC Amicus Brief, Survivor of Dead Washington Prisoner Wins Public Records Case, by Sam Rutherford
  50. Former Kentucky Sheriff Indicted for Murdering Judge in Chambers
  51. Michigan Supreme Court Greenlights Adding Restitution At Resentencing of Former Juveniles Sentenced to LWOP
  52. Second Rapper Stabbed in Atlanta Jail During Record-Long Trial
  53. South Dakota DOC Locks Down Third Prison in 2024
  54. New York City Held in Contempt in Long-Running Rikers Island Class-Action
  55. Lawsuits by Michigan Prisoner Yield $57,750 in Settlements, Plus Policy Changes
  56. Top Doc Sacked from Maryland Psych Hospital with “Climate of Chaos”
  57. Colorado Legislature’s New Jail Oversight Committee Not Weighted in Detainees’ Favor
  58. 1994 Crime Bill Turns 30: A Legacy of Controversy
  59. First Circuit Rejects Request by Securus and Pay Tel to Stay FCC Prison Phone Rate Caps
  60. Georgia Prisoner Accused of Running $3.5 Million “Protection” Racket
  61. Securus/JPay Video Calling Service Potentially Threatened by New Rate Caps
  62. GOP Michigan County Commissioner Re-elected— and Headed to Federal Prison
  63. Push to Digitize Rikers Island Mail Based on Faulty Drug Tests
  64. “Whoppergate” Embroils Georgia Sheriff
  65. News in Brief
  66. Turn Key Health Walks Away From Oklahoma County Jail

More from Douglas Ankney:

More from these topics: