JENNINGS, Mo. – U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson approved of a $4.7 million class action settlement to be paid by the city of Jennings to people jailed in a modern-day debtors’ prison.
From 2010 to 2015, nearly 2000 people spent nearly a combined 9,000 days in jail for failing to pay court fines or traffic violations, according to Thomas Harvey, the executive director of ArchCity Defenders.
“I’m happy about the agreement but there is so much more to do for people who have been ensnared and exploited by the system, in order to help them get back to some semblance of stability in their lives, and that’s a stark reminder that we have to get back to work,” Harvey said in a statement. “The amount of money that we can secure with these settlements pales in comparison to the damages that people have survived. Until the legal system begins to treat poor people and black people with a modicum of respect and with the humanity they deserve, we’re going to keep fighting this fight.”
The ArchCity Defenders, a St. Louis-based legal advocacy group for the poor and people of color, has taken a major role in the fight against “taxation by citation” fights that have plagued some St. Louis County townships. This successful lawsuit, filed in February of 2015, could set a precedent in the region. Earlier this year, ArchCity filed similar lawsuits against more than a dozen other municipalities in the St. Louis area.
In Jennings, people with overdue fines could be jailed, and they were sometimes mistreated by jail staff. The city of Jennings did receive some praise for being the first entity to settle with ArchCity Defenders and their clients, and they have made changes to how their debt and fine collection programs work. Jennings now uses a collection agency instead of jailing those who cannot pay.
However, ArchCity Defenders and their allies pledged to ensure that these practices stopped in these municipalities.
“While this ruling holds promise for similar cases, impact litigation can only go so far as to achieve racial and economic equity for poor people and black people who have been exploited by cities’ courts, police, and jails,” said Brendan Roediger from Saint Louis University School of Law Legal Clinics.
