TYT: Judge Stops New Debtors' Prison

A judge in Tennessee has ruled that the practice of locking people up for not paying fees to private prison firms is illegal. Ana Kasparian (The Point) and Karamo Brown hosts of The Young Turks discuss.

Do you think this will start a trend of repealing laws that support private prisons? Let us know in the comments below.

Read more here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/poverty-jailing-probation-rutherford-county_56785da5e4b06fa6887e31e1

"Thirteen indigent inmates are free after a federal judge in Nashville, Tennessee, granted an injunction that bars local officials from jailing poor probationers for their inability to pay probation-related fees.

Advocates for the indigent said the Dec. 17 order is a step in the right direction, at a time when profit-driven policing and corrections has come under federal scrutiny.

Writing in response to a November request to bar Rutherford County and its private probation contractor from issuing arrest warrants with high monetary bonds for violations of probation conditions and then locking up people who can't afford to pay, U.S. District Judge Kevin Sharp came down firmly on the side of poor defendants. Sharp said the current system traps low-income probationers in a "pernicious cycle for years on end."