Inland Congressman Takes Aim at 'Probation Companies'

By City News Service:

An Inland Empire congressman introduced legislation Monday seeking to cut off federal grants to cities throughout the country that do business with so-called “probation companies” that make money by going after low-level offenders delinquent on paying court-imposed fines.

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, authored the “End of Debtors’ Prison Act of 2016” to stop a practice that he termed “predatory.”

“The for-profit probation industry is preying upon low-income Americans by using routine traffic tickets to trap them in a spiral of debt, and using the threat of jail time to extract the last dollar from vulnerable people, including veterans,” Takano said. “At best, the system is guilty of extortion, and at worst, it amounts to a modern day debtors’ prison. This is unjust, unconstitutional, and completely unacceptable.”

Under the congressman’s proposal, any municipality that retains a private probation company would be automatically excluded from Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance funding, which police departments can use to purchase body armor, GPS tracking devices, bomb shields and other gear.

Takano’s spokesman, Josh Weisz, told City News Service that the two-term congressman became concerned after his staff researched stories in which people had been jailed after allegedly failing to make good on overdue penalties for minor offenses.

Research pointed to questionable actions by probation companies, which in some states are authorized to handle debt collection for fines stemming from convictions for misdemeanor disorderly conduct, driving on a suspended license and similar crimes, Weisz said.

The firms are not paid directly by their client cities, but instead collect their own fees from debtors. According to Takano’s office, probation companies have the authority to recommend that delinquents be jailed in lieu of debt payment.

California prohibits the operation of for-profit probation companies, but Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Montana and several other states allow them, according to published reports.

Weisz specifically mentioned one of the more successful companies by name -- Irvine-based Sentinel Offender Services. City News Service contacted the firm, which declined to provide an immediate response to Takano’s proposal.

“The End of Debtors’ Prison Act of 2016 will help restore fairness in our justice system by prohibiting these predatory and unconstitutional practices that unfairly punish the nation’s poor,” Takano said.

The bill’s co-sponsors include Reps. John Conyers, D-Michigan, and Hank Johnson, D-Georgia.

The ACLU has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of probation companies, according to published reports