Private Probation Firms Win Big In Georgia Legislature

In the past few years, private firms in Georgia that profit from holding poor residents criminally responsible for failure to pay fines have faced rebuke after rebuke in court rulings and lawsuits. In one, Sentinel Offender Services held open an arrest warrant that had expired two years earlier. In another, a court found that the same notorious firm had illegally extended the probation sentences of potentially thousands of Georgians. And even when they’re not found in violation of the law, they are testing its limits by profiting on the backs of individuals too poor to pay probation fines for offenses as minor as traffic violations.

To rein in the industry, critics have called for increased oversight. But instead, the Georgia legislature passed a bill last week to give private probation firms even more power, and to make information about payments to probation firms and even the number of people on probation a state secret.

“This bill is a gift to the private probation firms,” said Southern Center for Human Rights attorney Sarah Geraghty.

Private probation firms take on the role of supervising probation sentences for misdemeanor cases in some counties. But probation terms that often begin because an individual doesn’t have the means to pay a fine in the first place become the source for a cycle of criminal debt, as companies impose monthly “supervision” fees, even where the only supervision mandated by the court is collection of a fee, as well as hefty charges for electronic monitoring and drug tests. Unlike debt collection agencies, these firms use the threat of arrests, jail time, and electronic monitoring to extract these funds from low-level offenders.

In Georgia, traffic offenses are considered criminal. So even individuals charged with running a stop sign have landed in jail for allegedly not paying fees, even over claims that they already paid. In one Georgia incident documented in a recent Human Rights Watch report, a man who stole a $2 can of beer ended up in jail for failure to pay a $200 fine that ballooned into more than $1,000 under the supervision of a private probation firm. And Georgia’s private probation companies charge twice as much per month to supervise individuals with misdemeanor convictions ($39 to $44) as the state charges to supervise individuals for felonies ($23), according to the Southern Center for Human Rights.

Read More: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/03/25/3418320/georgia-passes-bill-to-give-more-power-to-private-probation-firms/