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Several courts in Ohio are illegally jailing people because they are too poor to pay their debts and often deny defendants a hearing to determine if they're financially capable of paying what they owe, according to an investigation released Thursday by the Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Among the report's findings: In the second half of last year, more than one in every five of all bookings in the Huron County jail originating from Norwalk Municipal Court cases involved a failure to pay fines. In suburban Cleveland, Parma Municipal Court jailed at least 45 defendants for failure to pay fines and costs between July 15 and August 31, 2012. During the same period, Sandusky Municipal Court jailed at least 75 people for similar charges. Judge Deanna O'Donnell of Parma Municipal Court said Thursday the court was unaware of the issue until contacted earlier this week by the ACLU. She said officials were examining the 45 cases in question. |
So apparently regression to old 19th century practices isn't limited to the South and Minnesota. How is a court unaware of an issue that it itself is causing? More importantly how to you stop something like this when the Judaical Branch isn't really regulated by any other part of the Government?