I saw it on Last Night Tonight with John Oliver about private probation companies (can't link to it because of language)

 

But here's an article about it:


http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/artic...ded_fees_j


Some key parts of the article: 

 

Quote: 

 

For stealing the single can of beer, a different kind of monkey attached to Barrett's back—privatized probation, the increasing and increasingly controversial outsourcing of such services for those convicted of misdemeanor offenses. The companies have argued that they provide professionally trained supervision and follow the courts' direction.

The judge put Barrett on 12 months' probation during which Sentinel Offender Services, based in Irvine, California, would supervise him and collect the fine in installments. But after nearly a year, he was still on the hook for payments, owing Sentinel over $1,000 in fees, more than five times greater than the fine itself.

 

Of course as John Oliver talked about in his show, it also extends to things like Speeding Tickets (which for someone making minimum wage, could cost as much as one week of their wages).  And in order to get on a payment plan, in some places you have to pay a fee just to get on that plan.

 

 

In some places that results in losing your Driver's License (which in turn can lead to you losing your job, which in turn leads to you still not being able to pay your fine)


From another Article about the same man:


 

Quote: 

That Augusta court, like more than 1,000 other courts throughout the United States, uses an offender-funded model of privatized probation. This privatized model provides little government oversight over probation and can burden low-level offenders — many of whom don't have a lot of money in the first place, according to Human Rights Watch.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:15px;">The supervision fees paid to private companies range from $35 to $100 a month and can be even higher if offenders have to pay court fines on top of them. Barrett's total payment to Sentinel was $360 a month, according to Human Rights Watch.



http://www.businessinsider.com/human-rig...z3VJnkgMKZ

Now, fines should be paid.  It's easy to say "If you don't want to pay the fine, don't do the crime," But everyone makes mistakes.  I know I've gotten a speeding ticket before, and I'm sure many of you have as well.  And yes, when people make mistakes they should have to pay the fine.  What they shouldn't have to do however is rack up outrageous fees, be put on private probation where fees can rack up to five times more than the original fine and other fees can apply, or have to pay to get into a payment plan that allows them to pay the fine they owe.  I don't think this is an area where the government OR private companies should be trying to make a profit.  Sadly, however, they do. 

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