a study last year by the ArchCity Defenders found a large part of the revenue for several St. Louis counties comes from fines paid by African-American residents disproportionately targeted for traffic stops and other low-level offenses. In Ferguson, fines and fees were the city’s second-largest source of income in the fiscal year 2014. Ferguson issued on average nearly three warrants per household last year—the highest number of warrants in the state, relative to its size.
The targeting may have had deadly consequences. According to the new class-action lawsuit, four area residents unable to buy their freedom have committed suicide in local jails in the past five months. Others allege indefinite detention and various denials of due process. The suit claims the debtors’ scheme has, quote, “devastated the City’s poor, trapping them for years in a cycle of increased fees, debts, extortion, and cruel jailings.” The plaintiffs want an end to the targeting as well as compensation for its victims.
Michael-John Voss talking:
what we have in St. Louis, in the municipalities in St. Louis County, is a modern debtors’ prison. Basically, our study, showed that individuals who are African-American are disproportionately targeted by police in the municipalities, as well as they are also exploited because of their financial inability to pay certain fines and costs related to that traffic stop, that traffic violation. And so, what happens is, an individual then is forced to pay an exorbitant amount of money relative to the charge that they’re facing. And then they are, if they don’t have that ability to pay, they’re actually—no inquiry is made as to that ability or not, and a warrant is issued for their arrest, and then they become incarcerated. It’s sometimes for days, for weeks, without any looking into their financial ability to pay, and actually without even having a clear sense of whether or not they have any sort of specific amount that they would be able to pay to get out of jail. And so, it’s arbitrarily they are being detained in St. Louis County in these municipal jails.
the lawsuit that we filed, we’re working with an organization called Equal Justice Under Law out of Washington, D.C., and the St. Louis University School of Law clinics. And basically, by interviewing and talking with many individuals who had gone through these experiences, we were able to take down a number of stories of individuals. And we’ve then investigated the sort of practices of the courts, through court-watching project, and then put together this lawsuit. It is a class-action lawsuit seeking injunctive relief, an end to these practices, and also seeking damages for the individuals that have suffered under this system.
within the last few years, there’s been at least four recorded deaths. There’s been also attempted suicides that we also have documentation of through news reports. There was a story of a young man, 18 years old, who clearly needed mental health treatment, but none of that was provided to him. And while he was in Jennings municipal court jail, he committed suicide.
And so, the conditions are deplorable. The conditions that we outline in our—in the lawsuit show that individuals are not—sometimes there’s seven to 10 people in a cell—excuse me, over 12 people in a jail cell that’s supposed to house just eight. They’re not given enough blankets to keep warm. There’s no washing of those blankets. They’re not permitted to take showers. I’ve been, as a lawyer, practicing in the municipal courts for a number of years, and I’ve been in a hallway in Jennings after they take people out of the confined docket, of which they don’t allow any public access to. The inmates are brought down a hallway and down into the jail. I’ve been waiting in that hallway to speak with a prosecutor. And immediately after all of the individuals that are brought down into the jail file through, a court clerk comes through with a can of aerosol to remove the stench, because nobody has taken a bath, because they’re not provided a shower for weeks.
Allison Nelson talking:
there were multiple occasions where I was incarcerated by Jennings and Ferguson. But just my recent one, it was Thanksgiving. It was three days before Thanksgiving. I was incarcerated, and it’s a Jennings jail cell. I had been there for three days. And once I left Jennings—well, they negotiated with my mother over the phone to reduce my bond from $1,000 to $100. And then, once they reduced the bond, then I was then transferred to a Ferguson jail cell Thanksgiving morning at around 3:00 a.m. And I sat there for a few hours, and then, once they had a shift change and the other CO came in, the correctional officer came in, I guess he was in a good mood Thanksgiving morning, because he came in, called out a list of names, and he was just like, “OK”—at the time, my bond was $700, and he was just like, “Oh, if you could come up with $100, then you could go home.” So then we weren’t given free phone calls at all, so I had to call my mother on the collect phone. And when you’re supposed to speak your name, I had to yell through the phone that, “Oh, they’re giving me a $100 bond, come and get me.”
I was charged with driving while suspended. Yeah, it was driving while suspended. And that’s been the only choice that I’ve had. I was in the driver seat of the car. I was just sitting in the backyard. I had on my nightgown and everything. And they came up in the backyard. And as I was walking into the house, he was just like, “Freeze, stop.” And he asked for my name. You know, I gave him my name. And then they immediately took me to jail in my nightgown, did not have no time—they did not give me any time to put on no clothes. And then, once I was transferred—once I went to Jennings and then transferred to Ferguson, then they then let my mother bring me some clothes. they charged me with driving while suspended. it’s an outstanding warrant for that prior charge of driving while suspended.
Herbert Nelson talking:
I’ve been arrested multiple times, too. But the last couple times, I’ve been arrested on my way to work, with no regards to that. They just arrested me, don’t occur that I’m in uniform. And I’m a painter, so I have a very stiff uniform. And I was in—and the last time I was arrested, I was arrested for close to a week, without no medical attention, and I had an infection that was caused from being jailed previously, and the infection just never went away. And they didn’t give me any attention regarding my medical condition at all at Jennings or Ferguson, and it just got worse and worse. And they really stopped me from going to work. And they’ve done that multiple times, and with no regard to me having a job, not trying to let me out earlier to get to work or anything like that. So I lost a lot through this.
My mother has been arrested illegally before. And we have to come up with the money. She usually comes up with the money for us. Now, with her, on the other hand, when she’s arrested, it’s even harder for us to come up with the money for our mother, because we don’t have the resources that she has. So, when she’s in jail, she’s been in jail for a lot longer than we have.
Michael-John Voss talking:
Ms. DeBerry lives on a fixed income, and so the ability to make a payment, an exorbitant amount of money that these courts are demanding for her to be released, is very difficult for them to do. In addition to that, there’s no judicial finding as to whether or not people have the ability to pay these fines and costs. And so, typically, people will be incarcerated, like Ms. DeBerry was, for weeks at a time without ever going in front of a judge to have an actual judicial determination made as to whether or not they are indigent or not.
what you see with a number of municipalities in North County, and Ferguson especially, is this wedding of the need to generate revenue for the municipality with the administration of justice. And so, there’s a financial incentive here for these practices to continue for the municipality to continue to run and function. And what we need to have is a divorce between those two things. The need to generate revenue for the municipality needs to be divorced from the administration of justice in these county municipalities.
— source democracynow.org
Michael-John Voss, managing attorney at ArchCity Defenders, which is one of the groups that has filed a lawsuit against two St. Louis suburbs, Ferguson and Jennings.
Allison Nelson, plaintiff in the class-action lawsuits against Jennings and Ferguson, two suburbs of St. Louis.
Herbert Nelson Jr., plaintiff in the class-action lawsuits against Jennings and Ferguson, two suburbs of St. Louis.