Alabama is a tough place to be poor and get a traffic ticket or incur a fine for what might be a relatively minor offense. You could be asked to give blood or be figuratively bled (until recently) by private companies. See this  report of a judicial ethics complaint filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Defendants who showed up before an Alabama circuit court  judge in response to an order to appear for a hearing on fees and costs they owed were told this by the judge:

“If you do not have any money and you don’t want to go to jail, consider giving blood today and bring me your receipt back, or the sheriff has enough handcuffs for those who do not have money,”

SPLC went on to note:

Wiggins said to consider the option of giving blood “a discount rather than putting you in jail.” However, no one who donated blood received any “discount” on their court debt; they simply received a reprieve from being thrown in jail.

In other news about Alabama from SPLC, Judicial Correction Services (JCS), informed remaining municipalities that they were leaving the state effective November 13. The company had been sued by SPLC for racketeering in its threats to put people in jail for failure to pay fines or debts owed to localities in Alabama. As the SPLC reported,

“JCS offers municipal courts its services at no cost to them. People who can’t pay traffic tickets and other minor fines in a lump sum are placed on what is known as “pay-only probation,” and judges assign JCS to collect payments. The company profits from fees it charges – typically $40 a month – to people making payments, prolonging their ordeal and making it more difficult to pay off their debt. Company officials often threaten people with jail to secure payment, and many defendants end up behind bars.”

Although illegal federally since 1833, states and localities have been expanding the incarceration of people for failure to pay debts–and not just ones owed directly to courts or state and local governments.  This is something that the SPLC, the ACLU and other groups are very concerned with.