Lawsuit: Ravalli County runs ‘debt-induced poverty’ scheme with high pretrial fees
“According to the plaintiffs, the county’s approach to pretrial supervision essentially pushes arrestees further into the criminal legal system and entraps them in a cycle of debt-induced poverty. By having to pay the fees, pretrial arrestees are deprived of their property without due process.
The fees also act as an extension of bail amounts, since the county requires the fees be paid to be released from jail – and to stay out of jail. That amounts to a violation of due process and equal protection from discrimination based on wealth, the suit alleges.
‘Ravalli County, like many counties throughout the United States, has outsourced onto the backs of its poorest residents its obligation to fund its operations,’ the suit states. ‘The county enforces its taxation-by-force system through constant threat of incarceration.'”