Underwood

Alabama Town Agrees in Settlement to Stop Operating Debtors’ Prison

The settlement has been preliminarily approved by the U.S. District Court in Montgomery. The court will hold a final hearing in August to decide whether to formally approve the agreement. In a town where almost 30 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, at least 190 impoverished people were jailed for nonpayment within a two-year period.


Alabama City Accused of Jailing Poor People Reaches Legal Settlement

An Alabama city reached a legal settlement with the Southern Poverty Law Center Tuesday to end a class action lawsuit that accused it, and its chief of police, of illegally jailing people too poor to pay fines resulting from traffic and misdemeanor offences. The City of Alexander and Chief of Police Willie Robinson were accused of jailing at least 190 impoverished people over a two-year period, …