[Jamie] Tillman told me that she thought she had no choice but to plead guilty \u2014 it was unlikely, she believed, that the judge would take her word over that of the arresting officers. \u201cI admit, your honor,\u201d she said. \u201cI just want to get me out of here as soon as possible.\u201d Under Mississippi state law, public intoxication is punishable by a $100 fine or up to 30 days in jail. Ross opted for the maximum fine. Tillman began to cry.<\/p>\n
The Federal Reserve Board has estimated that 40 percent of Americans don\u2019t have enough money in their bank accounts to cover an emergency expense of $400. Tillman didn\u2019t even have $10. She couldn\u2019t call her family for help. She was estranged from her father and from her mother, who had custody of Tillman\u2019s two young daughters from a previous relationship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t \u2014 \u201d Tillman stammered to Ross. \u201cI can\u2019t \u2014 \u201d<\/p>\n
Ross explained the system in his court: For every day a defendant stayed in the Alcorn County jail, $25 was knocked off his or her fine. Tillman had been locked up for five days as she awaited her hearing, meaning she had accumulated a credit of $125 toward the overall fine of $255. (The extra $155 was a processing fee.) Her balance on the fine was now $130. Was Tillman able to produce that or call someone who could?<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d Tillman responded, so softly that the court recorder entered her response as \u201cinaudible.\u201d She tried to summon something more coherent, but it was too late: The bailiff was tugging at her sleeve. She would be returned to the jail until Oct. 14, she was informed, at which point Ross would consider the fine paid and the matter settled.<\/p>\n
That night, Tillman says, she conducted an informal poll of the 20 or so women in her pod at the Alcorn County jail. A majority, she says, were incarcerated for the same reason she was: an inability to pay a fine. Some had been languishing in jail for weeks. The inmates even had a phrase for it: \u201csitting it out.\u201d Tillman\u2019s face crumpled. \u201cI thought, Because we\u2019re poor, because we\u2019re of a lower class, we aren\u2019t allowed real freedom,\u201d she recalled. \u201cAnd it was the worst feeling in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Sunday’s @NYTmag<\/a>, I’ve got a long feature about the criminalization of poverty in the US, and the fines and fees that help trap poor Americans in unbreakable cycles of debt. This is a big problem already; unfortunately, it’s likely going to get bigger: https:\/\/t.co\/VgU5lIXI61<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Matthew Shaer (@matthewshaer) January 8, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n