The Times-Picayune (New Orleans) — Judges sued over fines; 'Pay or stay' called unfair to the poor — By Susan Finch — (Friday, March 9, 2007) —
By routinely ordering jail sentences for defendants who don't have money to pay fines immediately, New Orleans Municipal Court judges are running what amounts to a debtors' prison system, the American Civil Liberties Union claims in a federal lawsuit designed to halt the practice.
"Sentencing poor suspects to alternative 'pay or stay' sentences means the rich pay to get out of jail and go home, while the poor stay in an overcrowded Orleans Parish Prison to pay off the debt with jail time," said Joe Cook, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana. The suit was filed Wednesday. The ACLU's client in the case is Percy Dear, a homeless and mentally ill man who was arrested for begging Feb. 28, found guilty by Judge John Shea and ordered later the same day to spend 20 days behind bars when he couldn't immediately pay a $200 fine, according to the suit. Shea and his fellow judges -- Sean Early, John Blanchard and Paul Sens -- are all targeted in the lawsuit.
Sens, now the Municipal Court chief judge, told The Times-Picayune that on the advice of the City Attorney's Office, he and his colleagues are not commenting on the case.
The ACLU is asking U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle to treat its lawsuit as a class action, with Dear representing an unknown number of other people who have experienced similar treatment at Municipal Court. The city court hears cases involving code violations such as public drunkenness, disturbing the peace and begging.
The "pay or stay" sentences represent not only bad judicial decisions, but also bad public policy in post-Katrina New Orleans because it costs the city $23.50 a day to house each municipal offender, said Tulane Criminal Law Clinic Director Pamela Metzger, who is assisting the ACLU with its case.
"Here, the city spent nearly $500 to incarcerate Mr. Dear because he couldn't afford to pay a $200 fine," she said. "The fiscal irresponsibility is staggering," When the city spends its money to keep people jailed instead of offering them job training, drug treatment or mental health resources, Orleans Parish taxpayers get shortchanged, Metzger said.
According to the lawsuit, New Orleans defense attorneys told former Municipal Court Chief Judge Bruce McConduit that pay-or-stay sentences had been ruled unconstitutional in federal and state courts. The suit claims McConduit "stated that the practice of jailing indigent defendants unable to pay fines would be stopped," but it has continued. McConduit, who retired earlier this year, couldn't be reached for comment
By routinely ordering jail sentences for defendants who don't have money to pay fines immediately, New Orleans Municipal Court judges are running what amounts to a debtors' prison system, the American Civil Liberties Union claims in a federal lawsuit designed to halt the practice.
"Sentencing poor suspects to alternative 'pay or stay' sentences means the rich pay to get out of jail and go home, while the poor stay in an overcrowded Orleans Parish Prison to pay off the debt with jail time," said Joe Cook, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana. The suit was filed Wednesday. The ACLU's client in the case is Percy Dear, a homeless and mentally ill man who was arrested for begging Feb. 28, found guilty by Judge John Shea and ordered later the same day to spend 20 days behind bars when he couldn't immediately pay a $200 fine, according to the suit. Shea and his fellow judges -- Sean Early, John Blanchard and Paul Sens -- are all targeted in the lawsuit.
Sens, now the Municipal Court chief judge, told The Times-Picayune that on the advice of the City Attorney's Office, he and his colleagues are not commenting on the case.
The ACLU is asking U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle to treat its lawsuit as a class action, with Dear representing an unknown number of other people who have experienced similar treatment at Municipal Court. The city court hears cases involving code violations such as public drunkenness, disturbing the peace and begging.
The "pay or stay" sentences represent not only bad judicial decisions, but also bad public policy in post-Katrina New Orleans because it costs the city $23.50 a day to house each municipal offender, said Tulane Criminal Law Clinic Director Pamela Metzger, who is assisting the ACLU with its case.
"Here, the city spent nearly $500 to incarcerate Mr. Dear because he couldn't afford to pay a $200 fine," she said. "The fiscal irresponsibility is staggering," When the city spends its money to keep people jailed instead of offering them job training, drug treatment or mental health resources, Orleans Parish taxpayers get shortchanged, Metzger said.
According to the lawsuit, New Orleans defense attorneys told former Municipal Court Chief Judge Bruce McConduit that pay-or-stay sentences had been ruled unconstitutional in federal and state courts. The suit claims McConduit "stated that the practice of jailing indigent defendants unable to pay fines would be stopped," but it has continued. McConduit, who retired earlier this year, couldn't be reached for comment