Remember when Buzzfeed reported that El Paso’s policy of jailing people who can’t afford to pay their traffic fines was unconstitutional?
In a federal complaint, the Texas Civil Rights Project alleges that El Paso officials have “exhibited deliberate indifference to correcting these known constitutional failings by refusing to make any effort at real reform.”
The lawsuit centers on a city policy, adopted in 2006, that requires people with outstanding fines to make a 25% down payment before they can get on a payment plan. For people with multiple tickets, that can easily amount to hundreds of dollars. The court’s website now says that if a defendant cannot afford the down payment, the court is authorized to accept less. But televisions in the courtroom and the payment plan application still say 25% payment is required, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said.
. . .
The lawsuit seeks an order prohibiting the city from jailing people who are unable to pay as well as compensation for people who have previously been jailed under those circumstances.
Inasmuch as this policy goes back to 2006, a lot of people could get a settlement.
What, do you suppose, our elected officials have been doing in the six months since this story first broke?
I suspect the fat cats driving the bus would rather just make it illegal to be poor in El Paso, but without poor people, who would pay for their vanity projects?