{"id":6845,"date":"2017-06-16T20:04:30","date_gmt":"2017-06-16T20:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=6845"},"modified":"2017-06-16T20:04:36","modified_gmt":"2017-06-16T20:04:36","slug":"texas-bill-provides-alternatives-to-jail-for-inability-to-pay-fines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=6845","title":{"rendered":"Texas Bill Provides Alternatives to Jail for Inability to Pay Fines"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The sponsor of a new sentencing guidelines bill says its purpose is to keep Texas jails from acting as \u201ddebtor\u2019s prisons.\u201d Photo: Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

by Mark Richardson<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0A measure passed by the Texas Legislature is designed to prevent people convicted of low-level crimes from being sent to jail when they can\u2019t afford a fine or fees.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 1913<\/a>\u00a0was approved by just five votes in the waning hours of the legislative session and awaits the governor\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n

Its sponsor, state Sen. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo, says the purpose is to keep Texas jails from acting as \u201cdebtor\u2019s prisons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney Brett Merfish with the public-interest group Texas Appleseed, says the idea is to stop what\u2019s known as the \u201ccycle of court debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople would not be taking up space in our local jails, and instead be able to serve out their sentences and also not lose their jobs, not have that interruption in their lives,\u201d she says. \u201cUsually, if people are indigent and can\u2019t pay, being in jail can lead to a cascade of other consequences in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill requires judges to evaluate a person\u2019s ability to pay fines for lower-level offenses that most often don\u2019t include jail time, such as traffic tickets or low-level misdemeanors, and would keep them out of jail simply because they can\u2019t afford the fines. It also allows judges to lower fines, set payment plans or order community service in those cases.<\/p>\n

Merfish says a\u00a0Texas Appleseed study<\/a>\u00a0shows significant numbers of Texans are spending time in jail simply because they are poor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese practices are widespread \u2013 so, in these cases of fine-only offenses, over 16 percent of them are satisfied by jail credit, which we think is an indicator for when people can\u2019t pay,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

She says each year, hundreds of thousands of Texans are caught in the cycle of court debt, often losing their jobs, cars, homes and even custody of their children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s certainly further reform, but we\u2019re happy with this as a first step to having practices and procedures in courts that will highlight this issue for judges, and ensure that people are given alternatives to payment,\u201d explains Merfish.<\/p>\n

Last year, ACLU Texas filed suit against the Galveston County town of Santa Fe, alleging its city court assessed\u00a0assessed excessive fines and warrant fees<\/a>\u00a0on people convicted of low-level crimes to help fund the city\u2019s $600,000 budget shortfall. The case is still pending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Richardson AUSTIN, Texas \u2013\u00a0A measure passed by the Texas Legislature is designed to prevent people convicted of low-level crimes from being sent to jail when they can\u2019t afford a fine or fees. Senate Bill 1913\u00a0was approved by just five votes in the waning hours of the legislative session and awaits the governor\u2019s signature. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6845"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6848,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6845\/revisions\/6848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}