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Civil rights groups accuse Arkansas city of running 'debtors prison'
Source: Reuters
U.S. | Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:21pm EDT
Civil rights groups accuse Arkansas city of running 'debtors prison'
By Jon Herskovitz
Civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday accusing a small Arkansas city of running what they said amounted to a modern day debtors prison where a local court imposed inordinate fees on the poor and jailed them if they did not pay.
The groups, including the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the American Civil Liberties Union, said the city of Sherwood, with a population of about 30,000 people, generated some $12 million over the past five years through the system, which the lawsuit claimed is illegal and targets African-American residents.
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The ACLU said what is going on in Sherwood, a suburb of Little Rock, is being repeated by numerous localities across the country who impose what the group sees as unlawful court fees to fill municipal coffers.
In Sherwood, there is a "hot check" court where local officials can leverage a check with insufficient funds written for $15 into several thousand of dollars in court fees and fines enforced with jail for those who do not pay, the lawsuit said.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Civil rights groups accuse Arkansas city of running 'debtors prison'
By Jon Herskovitz
Civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday accusing a small Arkansas city of running what they said amounted to a modern day debtors prison where a local court imposed inordinate fees on the poor and jailed them if they did not pay.
The groups, including the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the American Civil Liberties Union, said the city of Sherwood, with a population of about 30,000 people, generated some $12 million over the past five years through the system, which the lawsuit claimed is illegal and targets African-American residents.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
The ACLU said what is going on in Sherwood, a suburb of Little Rock, is being repeated by numerous localities across the country who impose what the group sees as unlawful court fees to fill municipal coffers.
In Sherwood, there is a "hot check" court where local officials can leverage a check with insufficient funds written for $15 into several thousand of dollars in court fees and fines enforced with jail for those who do not pay, the lawsuit said.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-arkansas-prison-civilliberties-idUSKCN10Y221