(September 25, 2015 at 9:25 am)Chad32 Wrote:(September 24, 2015 at 5:41 pm)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote: It's not in the article, but in Missouri, many counties are sending prisoners a "bill" for each day they stayed in the county jails... of course, in prison, they cannot work except at $40/month (max!) jobs, so the bill follows them back on the street, and may result in their reincarceration. While in prison, it means that whatever money they do earn (minus $5/month for soap, toothpaste, etc) is taken from their pay and sent to the county. It also means that if you fight your case, which may result in a minimum stay of 8 months (Speedy Trial limit in Missouri) or more likely a year or two (since Public Defenders in this state have the right to wave your Speedy Trial rights for you, and usually do because they're so swamped with cases, then tell you about it later), putting pressure on the defendant to plead out quickly so they don't stack up a bill.
I filed cases on behalf of some of the inmates, claiming the practice is unconstitutional as a violation of Equal Protection, but none of them had made it to the appeals court ruling stage (local courts always shoot down the first round of inmate petitions, requiring an appeal, which has a "filing fees" of $90 at each level of court applied to, so $270 in total, not counting xerox copies and stamps to mail the numerous copies required to apply) by the time I got out.
The eighth amendment is supposed to protect against excessive fines, which makes this unconstitutional. Not that I'm horribly surprised they ignore the constitution when it suits them. It also protects against cruel and unusual punishments, but some people still think we should torture people at Guantanamo and wherever else they feel like doing it.
I don't think they're torturing people for the sake of punishing them.