Sam Brooke, Deputy Legal Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, called this behavior “shameful.”
City of Gretna Accused of Funding Budget Through Fee Generation
Eric Foley, an attorney in MacArthur Justice System in New Orleans, stated that “[The] Court [in Gretna] is beholden to the shared goal of generating revenue for the City’s – and their own – financial advantage.”
In Gretna, Louisiana, many who are found guilt or plead to a misdemeanor charge may be assessed a fee of $250 per offense and can enter into a diversion program. If they successfully complete the diversion program, the charges are dropped. However, if a defendant fails to make a payment or pay in full, they lose all of the money they’ve paid up to that point and they’re sent directly to jail.
Foley stated, “This is a staggering miscarriage of justice. Individuals come before the court only with petty citations…are then prosecuted by an employee of the Mayor in a court overseen by an employee of the Mayor and then made to pay a fee, collected by the Police Department at the direction of the Mayor, in order to help fund the same system…”
This Problem Isn’t Exclusive to the South
There are numerous articles and reports available on the Internet over the last few years that show jailing the poor is something that happens only in the south. South Carolina, St. Louis, Arkansas, Ohio, and many other locations are accused of the same behavior.
