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Supreme Court Ruling Not Enough To Prevent Debtors Prisons : NPR
The Fish That Landed Kyle Dewitt In Jail
Dewitt, also from Michigan, went to jail after he failed to pay his fines from catching a fish out of season.
Dewitt's problems began when, on a Michigan river in 2011, he thought he had caught a rock bass. But a Department of Natural Resources agent said it was a smallmouth bass, which was out of season.
At the time, Dewitt was 19 and the father of a baby boy. He had dropped out of school and lost his job bagging groceries. He says he tried to find the money to pay what he owed the court by knocking on neighbors' doors, offering to mow lawns or do chores. But he couldn't come up with the $155 he owed.
When he didn't pay, a warrant was issued for his arrest. He says there was confusion. Court officials said paperwork was mailed to Dewitt with instructions for paying off the fine in installments. But Dewitt — who as a teen moved from his grandparents' house to his mother's, to friends' houses — said he never received the letter.
He was taken to jail for nonpayment. A family member was able to pay the bail bondsman. And because that payment was for $175 — more than his original ticket — Dewitt thought the ticket was paid. So when he was summoned to court a few days later, the audio tape of his appearance before District Court Judge Raymond Voet makes it clear Dewitt was confident that the issue was behind him.
But as court officials explained that day, the $175 was simply the fee for the bail bondsman. None of it applied to his original fine, which had grown to more than $200. Dewitt had come with no money, but Voet demanded payment that day.
The judge then sentenced Dewitt to three days in jail.
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Voet says the court system can't work effectively if defendants are casual about things like paying court fees. There has to be respect for the law, he says, even on a minor violation.
"If I've got someone standing in front of me for something that's labeled a misdemeanor and they've failed to follow through with court orders on that," Voet says, "am I supposed to tell the rest of the world, the rest of the law-abiding citizens, that they're chumps and fools for having respected the law and respected the court's orders?"
Voet is known for holding everyone to the same rules. Last year, his own cellphone went off in the middle of an attorney's closing argument. The judge held himself in contempt and fined himself $25, saying those are the rules.
Still others say the rules on fees are unfair because the costs mostly hurt the poor.
"Every day poor people go to jail because they're poor," says Aukerman, who took up Dewitt's case. "Debtors prisons are alive and well in Michigan and across the country. People go to jail because they're poor. And that's a two-tiered and unequal system of justice."
Supreme Court Ruling Not Enough To Prevent Debtors Prisons : NPR
The Fish That Landed Kyle Dewitt In Jail
Dewitt, also from Michigan, went to jail after he failed to pay his fines from catching a fish out of season.
Dewitt's problems began when, on a Michigan river in 2011, he thought he had caught a rock bass. But a Department of Natural Resources agent said it was a smallmouth bass, which was out of season.
At the time, Dewitt was 19 and the father of a baby boy. He had dropped out of school and lost his job bagging groceries. He says he tried to find the money to pay what he owed the court by knocking on neighbors' doors, offering to mow lawns or do chores. But he couldn't come up with the $155 he owed.
When he didn't pay, a warrant was issued for his arrest. He says there was confusion. Court officials said paperwork was mailed to Dewitt with instructions for paying off the fine in installments. But Dewitt — who as a teen moved from his grandparents' house to his mother's, to friends' houses — said he never received the letter.
He was taken to jail for nonpayment. A family member was able to pay the bail bondsman. And because that payment was for $175 — more than his original ticket — Dewitt thought the ticket was paid. So when he was summoned to court a few days later, the audio tape of his appearance before District Court Judge Raymond Voet makes it clear Dewitt was confident that the issue was behind him.
But as court officials explained that day, the $175 was simply the fee for the bail bondsman. None of it applied to his original fine, which had grown to more than $200. Dewitt had come with no money, but Voet demanded payment that day.
The judge then sentenced Dewitt to three days in jail.
<!-- END CLASS="IMAGEWRAP" -->
Voet says the court system can't work effectively if defendants are casual about things like paying court fees. There has to be respect for the law, he says, even on a minor violation.
"If I've got someone standing in front of me for something that's labeled a misdemeanor and they've failed to follow through with court orders on that," Voet says, "am I supposed to tell the rest of the world, the rest of the law-abiding citizens, that they're chumps and fools for having respected the law and respected the court's orders?"
Voet is known for holding everyone to the same rules. Last year, his own cellphone went off in the middle of an attorney's closing argument. The judge held himself in contempt and fined himself $25, saying those are the rules.
Still others say the rules on fees are unfair because the costs mostly hurt the poor.
"Every day poor people go to jail because they're poor," says Aukerman, who took up Dewitt's case. "Debtors prisons are alive and well in Michigan and across the country. People go to jail because they're poor. And that's a two-tiered and unequal system of justice."
