“Set up to Fail” the Impact of Offender-Funded Private Probation on the Poor WATCH
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
HUMAN RIGHTS “Set up to Fail” The Impact of Offender-Funded Private Probation on the Poor WATCH “Set up to Fail” The Impact of Offender-Funded Private Probation on the Poor Copyright © 2018 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-6231-35737 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org FEBRUARY 2018 ISBN: 978-1-6231-35737 “Set Up to Fail” The Impact of Offender-Funded Private Probation on the Poor Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 7 To the Federal Government ....................................................................................................... 7 To State Governments in Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee ........................................ 7 To Courts and Judges in Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee ....................................... 10 To Prosecutors ........................................................................................................................ 11 To Private Probation Companies ............................................................................................. 11 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 13 I. Background: Offender-Funded Criminal Justice Systems ................................................ 16 Budgetary Pressures in the Criminal Justice System ................................................................ 16 The Motivation to Privatize Probation ...................................................................................... 18 Tables: National and state trends in probation ........................................................................ 22 Inherent Conflicts of Interest ................................................................................................... 30 Major Private Probation Companies in Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee ................. 31 Florida ............................................................................................................................. 32 Kentucky .......................................................................................................................... 32 Missouri ........................................................................................................................... 33 Tennessee ....................................................................................................................... 33 II. The Heavy Burden of Private Probation ......................................................................... 35 No Choice in the Matter .......................................................................................................... 36 Onerous Costs of Private Probation Supervision ..................................................................... 40 No Relief Available ................................................................................................................ 48 III. The Consequences of Not Paying ................................................................................. 55 Inability to pay fees and fines ................................................................................................. 55 Proxies for Failure to Pay ........................................................................................................ 60 A Family Burden ..................................................................................................................... 64 Invasive and Duplicative ......................................................................................................... 67 Driver’s License Suspensions ................................................................................................. 73 Jailed for Being Poor ............................................................................................................... 76 IV. Human Rights and US Law ........................................................................................... 81 International human rights norms ........................................................................................... 81 National law ........................................................................................................................... 83 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ 85 Appendix I: Examples of private probation contracts ......................................................... 86 Appendix II: Examples of private probation fee schedules ................................................. 98 Appendix III: Examples of court costs and jail fees .......................................................... 100 Appendix IV: Example rules for private probation and daily drug testing ......................... 106 Appendix V: Example of fee waiver form .......................................................................... 108 Appendix VI: Examples of arrest warrants and consequences for failure to pay ............... 109 Appendix VII: Letter to Kentucky judges (responses on file with Human Rights Watch) .... 113 Appendix VIII: Human Rights Watch letter to private probation companies and overview of responses (full responses on file with HRW) ................................................................... 116 Appendix IX: List of probation companies and agencies in Florida and Tennessee ............ 121 Summary Cindy Rodriguez, a 53-year old woman living in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, had never been in trouble – “never had a parking ticket” – until 2014, when she was charged with shoplifting. Rodriguez survives on disability payments due to injuries to her neck and back, and lives in constant pain. When her case went to court, she was represented by a public defender, provided to individuals living in poverty who meet certain criteria. Rodriguez said her public defender advised her to plead guilty and accept probation, saying it was the best deal she would receive from the state. Rodriguez was placed on probation for 11 months and 29 days under the supervision of Providence Community Corrections, Inc. (PCC), a private company that had contracted with the Rutherford County government to supervise misdemeanor probationers. Rodriguez’s lawyer told her probation was nothing to worry about, that she would just have to visit her probation officer once a week and pay her fees and fines. When she informed the judge about her stark financial situation and disability payments, he told her to do the best that she could. She owed the court US$578 for the fine and associated fees, and on top of that she would have to pay PCC a $35-45 monthly supervision fee. PCC also conducted random drug tests, though she was not charged with a drug-related offense, for which she would pay approximately $20 a test. The costs of probation ruined her life. Every time Rodriguez went to PCC to visit her probation officer, she was pressured to make payments. On one visit when she did not have the money to make a payment, her probation officer told her that she would “violate” her and that she would go to jail, which is what happened. Rodriguez turned herself in, saying it was “the most humiliating thing I’ve ever had to do in my whole life…. They took a mug shot of me, fingerprinted me, and treated me like I was garbage for about two and a half hours. Then [they] told me I could go home, they'd see me next time. That's what the police officer said, ‘I'll see you next time. You'll violate again.’ That's how they treat you.” Feeling the financial pressure of probation, backed by the threat of jail time, Rodriguez was spending far too much of her $753 monthly disability check on probation instead of basic necessities. She told Human Rights Watch: “I struggled to pay them the payments they needed every week. I ended up selling my van, because I was threatened all the time. If I 1 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2018 didn't make the payments, they were going to put me in jail. I lost my apartment, and it's been a struggle ever since…. There were times [my daughter and I] didn’t eat, because I had to make payments to probation.” The consequences of her time on probation are still haunting Rodriguez: “No matter what I do, I can’t get back up.” Rodriguez’s experience with private probation is not unique. Probation is a criminal sentence in lieu of jail time and is widely employed as an alternative to incarceration in the United States. One goal of probation supervision is to ensure that an individual does not commit further offenses,