#Texas ze buzzfeed drivers
Unpaid fines are a vexing problem for municipalities across the country, and uninsured drivers can indeed be a hazard, but Texas law leaves no doubt as to how courts must handle someone who has been arrested for unpaid fines. The result is a modern-day version of debtors prison, an institution that was common two centuries ago but has been outlawed since the early ’70s.
A BuzzFeed News investigation into Texas judicial practice found that with no public defenders present, traffic court judges routinely flout the law, locking up people for days, weeks, and sometimes even months because they did not pay fines they could not afford. One of the Supreme Court decisions even stemmed from a traffic case in Texas.īut in many courts across the Lone Star State, it is as if the law and the Supreme Court rulings never happened. It violates Texas law and two unanimous Supreme Court decisions, all of which bar courts from jailing people simply because they are too poor to pay their fines. In lieu of payment, Lane, who had no legal representation, was ordered to spend 21 days in jail. Less than two minutes after the hearing began, it ended. Judge Davis did not ask about his financial situation, Lane said. The pet food factory paid $8 an hour, more than any other job he had had, but even so he made only $5,650 that year. But there was no way Lane could afford that sum. If Lane paid up, he would have been released immediately. Barely looking up at him, Lane recalled, she read off his driving offenses, which included expired registration, no insurance, and not stopping at a stop sign - five traffic stops, totaling more than $3,400 in penalties.
There in court, Judge Cheryl Davis, a part-time judge and bankruptcy lawyer, called Lane’s name. Driving home at 2 in the morning, he had been pulled over for going 43 miles an hour when the limit was 35 and arrested on the spot for outstanding traffic tickets. EL PASO, Texas - Levi Lane shuffled into the pews of the El Paso County jail court still reeking of poultry fat from his night shift at a local pet food factory.
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