A perfect example of wealth privilege courtesy of NPR

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http://www.npr.org/2014/05/19/312158516/increasing-court-fees-punish-the-poor

In Augusta, Ga., a judge sentenced Tom Barrett to 12 months after he stole a can of beer worth less than $2.

In Ionia, Mich., 19-year-old Kyle Dewitt caught a fish out of season; then a judge sentenced him to three days in jail.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., Stephen Papa, a homeless Iraq War veteran, spent 22 days in jail, not for what he calls his "embarrassing behavior" after he got drunk with friends and climbed into an abandoned building, but because he had only $25 the day he went to court.

The common thread in these cases, and scores more like them, is the jail time wasn't punishment for the crime, but for the failure to pay the increasing fines and fees associated with the criminal justice system.

A yearlong NPR investigation found that the costs of the criminal justice system in the United States are paid increasingly by the defendants and offenders. It's a practice that causes the poor to face harsher treatment than others who commit identical crimes and can afford to pay. Some judges and politicians fear the trend has gone too far.

much much more at link including audio of the story.

It is impossible to argue that this isn't an example of wealth privilege. People going to jail for one and only one reason, they have no money to pay the fees and fines they have been accessed for crimes which otherwise wouldn't go to jail.

[Leme]

1. Not sure but...

I think they charge room and board daily at the county lock up here. At least for some.

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3. in over 40 states according to the story

[arcane1]

2. My then-unemployed ass spent 5 nights in jail in VA because I couldn't afford to pay a ticket

A speeding ticket, that is.

It surely cost them more to house me than the ticket cost.

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4. surprised you weren't billed for the stay

[AverageJoe90]

5. Now this is *real* privilege, folks.

And I mean no offense to all of the nicer folks out there who may believe in "white privilege", or "cis privilege", etc., but this, this is the real deal.

Even a wealthy black or Latino fellow would have a better chance than a poor or lower-middle class white guy, to be honest. And with that, this is even more true with a WASP man who's also got plenty of connections to high society.....but the poor guy still has nothing compared to him, even the white guy(although the Person of Color has it even worse, thanks to structural racism and such).

[smallcat88]

6. The other side of this

is the ridiculous affluenza defense that people with money are starting to use in court. They're basically coming right out and saying 'we're too rich to be held accountable or to go to jail'. Sickening!

[littlemissmartypants]

7. Nihil sub sole novum & the "golden" rule persists. nt

[TreasonousBastard]

8. I was listening to that today and...

I could feel the disgust of the narrators coming through.

They were really gobsmacked hearing that defendants were charged for their court-appointed lawyers.

[Tsiyu]

9. some of the courts in South Georgia are the worst

The worst I've ever seen was in Franklin County Tennessee.

Nickel and diming people on disability, charging poor mountain kids with felonies for first offenses, knowing these kids come from families where the yearly income may not even go over four figures.

I hate even driving in that county. You are going to be pulled over for breathing the wrong way, because there are so many different cops there. I think they must have arrested every young person in Franklin County. Criminalizing youth because their overpaid cops have nothing better to do.

It's a very sad place, and they employ a bunch of clerks to suck up all those fines and fees.

It's a growth industry - fee and fine the poverty-ridden to death. Shameful.

And we wonder why kids are so depressed and hopeless?