Mother dies after being imprisoned for children's truancy fines

[Witchyjoshy]

http://news.yahoo.com/mom-died-jail-because-she-didnt-pay-her-140636967.html

...
The unemployed mother of seven didn’t have the wealth of the fictional Bueller family, so she was unable to pony up $2,000 for truancy fines that her kids racked up for missing school. Although the federal government outlawed debtor’s prisons in the 1830s, last Friday DiNino, who lived in Berks County, an hour northwest of Philadelphia, was tossed in a jail cell to serve out a two-day sentence. A cause of death is still to be determined, but law enforcement officials didn’t give DiNino the high blood pressure medication she needed. She was found dead in her cell on Saturday, reported The Associated Press.

While the trend of jailing impoverished people is chilling enough, what’s also concerning is that being locked up for truancy fines is more common than most Americans realize. In Berks County alone, over 1,600 parents and guardians have been locked up since 2000 due to nonpayment of truancy fines, and two-thirds of those incarcerated are women. Like DiNino, the majority come from low income backgrounds and have no Bueller-style cash, savings, or credit card to offer up as payment.

It’s easy to say that the solution is for the parents to ensure their child goes to school—don’t do the crime, don’t do the time. But if a child’s not showing up, or is chronically late to school, chances are that something in the family’s circumstance is keeping that from happening. Maybe it’s a lack of transportation. Maybe it’s that the parent works nontraditional hours and isn’t home in the morning to get the kids ready. In DiNino’s case, due to her poverty, the overwhelmed single mom avoided homelessness by staying at a relative’s house.

Organizations like Communities in Schools, which consults with families and connects them with social services to solve whatever issues are keeping a child from showing up, are more effective than financial punishment at getting kids to school and ensuring they graduate. But there’s an insidious reason districts and local municipalities have taken to handing out truancy fines: Cold hard cash.

School funding that trickles down from state coffers is based on kids being in seats—it’s called the Average Daily Attendance. So while it’s true that a kid can’t learn math or science if he’s not in class, with education budgets decimated since the start of the Great Recession, every day a student is absent reduces the amount of money a school has at its disposal.

So, um, yeah.  Debtor's prisons are still happening, also outrageous truancy fines.

And you know there are people that will blame her and her kids for this.  Because, you know, our "they're in jail so they must have deserved it" mindset.

[Ultimate Paragon]

What the fuck is this shit?

[Sleepy]

Ah yes, we all know that parental imprisonment is the best way to ensure kids attend school.

[RavynousHunter]

I thought this went to the abyss in, like...the 50s or something.

[Witchyjoshy]

I thought this went to the abyss in, like...the 50s or something.

It clawed back out.

[mellenORL]

It's unconstitutional. There are plenty of local laws and codes that are illegitimate. But the people who get burned don't know it, and don't have the time or inclination to get legal advice, which would be a local public defender....who would get browbeaten by the local judge for challenging the law in court...

[Barbarella]

There needs to be an organization of pro-bonos put together to help people in cases like this.

And a movement to change the laws to chuck "debtor's prisons" back in the "Dustbin of History" where it belongs!

Progressives also need to learn from the Regressives' playbook and take this country back with maximum support from the people. They have much support already but there's a sizeable minority that's always a "spanner in the works".

We also need to educate people on how not to fall into tyranny. The tyrannical always use some sort of economic or social chaos to get the people's support. People need to learn to quit falling for one of the oldest tricks in the book.

Green Dog Democrats! Dissolve the Green Party & have them become Democrats! Since we're stuck with a two-party system and the majority of the population trusting only two, the Greens show just become Dems and do what the Tealiban did (but the reverse).

Religious Progressives need to get into the televangelist/revival-type routine. A new wave of Progressive Evangelicals traveling, teaching & preaching a Progressive/Peaceful/Liberal Gospel. Muslims & Jews need to do the same. The fact is that religion fuels this "Culture War" mess. Since folks won't let go of their faiths, give them their freedom & provide a kinder, more humane alternative.



I'm so sick of this mess! I wish all Regressives & reactionaries would just DROP DEAD! C'MON, AMERICA! LIVE UP TO YOUR IDEALS!

[rageaholic]

There are so many things wrong with this.  From the ridiculousness of truancy laws, to the idea of jailing people for not being able to pay a fine, to the fact the kids lost their fucking mother due to the incompitence of the jail staff.  I'm already raging at this, but I'm afraid to read the comments because I know there will be those goody too shoe types who think she deserved it because the moral righteous Christian authority can do know wrong. 

I'll post more when I calm down. 

[R. U. Sirius]

There needs to be an organization of pro-bonos put together to help people in cases like this.

Better yet: Eliminate private attorneys entirely. Give public defenders decent wages and everyone gets the same chance to get a decent defense in court.

[Barbarella]

Progressives going to the polls this Fall would be a great start.

And even if the Dems aren't perfect, they're sure as heck a lot better than the alternative. Must take pragmatic baby steps.

[rageaholic]

Posted this on another forum, got accused of trolling lol.