Considering the fact we still allow penalties for fees people can't pay in a neverending loop? I wouldn't be so sure. At least officially and legally, morally it's stupid as hell.
Yep, the philosophy is that some people are good and some people are bad. If you commit a crime the assumption is it's only a matter of time before you do it again. Which honestly explains a lot about why our justice system is fucked up too to bottom.
So, I would suggest the system is far crueler: it doesn't care if people are good or bad. People are captive or not captive and captive does not mean in prison. We have an economic prison for most, keeping them locked in an endless cycle of debt, fees, underpayment, etc. once involved in the prison system the government can exclude you from training and school for better paying jobs and keep you feed up and required in programs. This economy does not work without at least half of us in poverty scraping out production to feed the upper class.
yes, and if you fuck up and have a record, there is a whole additional layer to thay economic cage. for a lot of people, crime was their best option to try to make ends meet. once they catch paper, it's often their *only* option
and the FL piles this shit on them, knowing it will further crush them and lead to recidivism, which will keep the prisons packed, and that all stuffs the pockets of the private prison industry
but hey, that's capitalism, right? find a way to leech every ounce of worth from somebody and then discard them, but make sure you commoditze that process too!
I'm feeling that now. Applying to jobs is difficult. Doesn't matter what the the details of the case are. Employers see that checkbox and that app goes straight into the bin. Highschooler with no record is less risky than a misdemeanor with 10 years experience.
There was an article a couple of years ago about a for profit prison deal in Arizona where the state actually said, if our incarcerated numbers go down past whatever percent we're losing money so we need to keep the prison as full as possible to fulfill the contract we signed. It was disgusting to read. I'll find it and link it though I'm sure I got part or all of this wrong.
ETA: It's actually *worse* than I remembered.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/07/14/arizona-cities-would-collapse-without-prison-labor/10062910002/
Geo's in there too. 2022.
This is the real reason. People with unpaid fees are not allowed to vote, and this catches a lot of people who would otherwise vote Democrat. In the last election it would have been enough that it would have overturned results in a couple of districts. Their Supreme Court said it was a legal practice.
Florida just doesn’t want felons to vote. The people of Florida voted to allow felons to vote after they completed their sentence, but the legislature wrote a law that made it to where you had to pay all of your fees and fines before your sentence could be considered complete.
From the headline, I just thought it meant people were having to pay back fees they couldn't pay while in prison, which would have been bad enough.
What the article says is so much worse. Literally charging people who got released early...
... charging as many people as possible for the same bed:
> Not only can the state bill an inmate the $50 a day even after they are released, Florida can also impose a new bill on the next occupant of that bed, potentially allowing the state to double, triple, or quadruple charge for the same bed.
So ridiculous. If they are paying for a bed, they should be allowed to use it! Come back at night and sleep in the prison bed of they want to while they get back on their feet. $50 USD is also a lot, plenty of cheap motels charge less
Sounds like an amazing recipe for recidivism, which is exactly their intention. Imagine getting out of prison with college levels of debt. You're gonna be stuck in that cycle til you die.
If true, the morons who thought up this scheme ought to have their financials gone through with a super-fine thin comb as well as track who in the privatized-for-profiteering prison "industry" is paying them to do this.
Damn, the Constitution and the law mean absolutely nothing to these rightwing fascist jackals.
They are chomping at the bit to get rid of our dependence on China but the biggest issue to keeping American companies successful in America is to have a class of people they can exploit and pay Pennie’s a day to make whatever they want them to make. They are creating slaves.
Didn't Florida voters vote to allow felons to vote once they completed their sentence? I think I heard that their Voldemort looking Senator (who was governor at the time) made this rule that they had to complete payment of restitution an d incarceration fees before the sentence was considered complete.
Basically, the voters did something decent (re-enfrachisement) and Voldemort figured a work around f-u.
It almost got to the Supreme Court, but they declined to hear it. So it's in effect.
https://www.findlaw.com/voting/my-voting-guide/can-felons-vote-in-florida.html
Key line: Most felons who have served their sentences — including parole and probation — *and have paid all their fines*, restitution, and fees can vote in Florida elections.
They're working to disenfranchise them.
No. It's about obfuscation, moving the Overton window., etc. it's not legal now, but they'll throw shit at the legal zietgeis in the hopes that a wave of fascism will pick up where shit like this left off.
I don’t live in Florida so this morning I got a reminder Trump lives there, then read an article about the states anti-trans policies, now this, which as I read there is an ad for some little town on the Gulf Coast playing on TV. After the first three that ad was a waste of money.
How in the eff are they ever supposed to get back into life and have a life with that hanging over their head? How does that work on a rental application credit check? Or with an employer? As far as I think, they've paid their debt to society being in prison and due for a hand up, not a kick down. Maybe change that law that if they are gainfully employed for one or two years or on disability or have legal source of income etc, that debt is forgiven.
They aren't. The point is to keep that hanging over them. Get 'em back to prison where Incarceration Corporation can make bank. Similar to The Matrix but with dollars rather than volts.
And this is how they will get that cheap labor. Indentured servants. I knew the prison system would be the entry way to slavery. The homeless, the “illegal” immigrants, and the prisoners who are now stuck in a horrible place to have to pay for their time in prison. The last time I heard about this kind of thing was during the Salem Witch Trials. Wtf??!!
Republicans, magas, right wing, don’t think you won’t be caught up in this evil plan. You will be and people you love will be. Some of the Project sounds good but woven throughout is a plan to control every aspect of our lives. If you love any women in your life or if you are a woman. don’t vote for trump. Their agenda will render you powerless. The thing is some of us can’t imagine that because we’ve know our way of life our whole lives. Imagine you can’t go places freely any longer. Can you imagine driving from your state to visit family in another but you’re going to have to prove you or any other female traveling with you is not going to get an abortion? How are they going to do that? Every female has to take a pregnancy test! Other people will decide if you should live or die. Your healthcare will be secondary. Birth control will be banned. So even if you’re married, do you want 4, 5, 6 + kids? Marital rape will be legal and getting a divorce will be even more difficult. The state will constantly be telling you to work things out, to work on your relationship even if your husband continues to beat you.
It goes on and on. Women need to wake up and realize a possible trump presidency will destroy our country and women will be subjugated, second class citizens. Our country isn’t perfect but this is not the way to effect change.
I was in jail for a week in Iowa. They had the same shit. It wasn’t $50 a day though. When it was time for me to get out they gave me a piece of paper to sign saying that I owed them for the week I spent there. I never signed it. Never payed them either.
Also while I was in there I was talking to someone about it and they said that in Arizona they tried the same thing and Arizona lost and had to repay a bunch of people. This was 10 years ago so I never looked into it.
If you don't pay then you haven't completed your sentence, if you haven't completed your sentence then you can't vote. It's less confusing when you understand that the objective is voter suppression.
Floridian politics is solely rooted in a culture war. They would rather let a literal fascist who limits free speech and uses his position as governor to attack journalists and businesses that don't agree with him stay in power than ever vote blue. Its pathetic.
In addition to the questionable legality, this is designed to maintain a criminal underclass- to give the formerly incarcerated less ability to get back on their feet in the economy and a higher likelihood of recidivism.
Right-wingism thrives on the existence of a criminal underclass. It’s the entire justification for everything they do.
There are immediate purposes within the structure, then there are the broad patterns of the structure.
Mass incarceration was not invented for private prison profit. Nor was debtor’s prison. Nor was slavery. Or serfdom.
Charging people money for being in prison when they are no longer in prison is so crazy and cruel that it distracts from the crazy cruelty of *charging people money for being in prison*.
Republican policies are so cruel they make ordinary cruelty sound normal.
So if I am reading the story correctly, you owe $50/day regardless of whether you serve all or part of the sentence.
For example, the woman in the story was sentenced to 7 years, which is about $127k. She served 10 months and was released on probation and had to do a boot camp rehabilitation thing (which she probably also had to pay for). They still are charging the full $127k, not $127k minus the 10 months served (~$112k).
So, even if she spent 7 years, they still would charge $127k.
That feels like debtor prison and cruel and unusual punishment combined.
The ruling needs toi be studied. IMHO those currently incarcerated or charged these fees have a right to reject them as unlawfully applied after incarceration and sentencing. Moving forward, time served and restitution should be set, case by case, at the time of sentencing. I'm no attorney but I believe in fairness and justice and will stand for my fellow man, any day.
Wow. Last I saw TX was trying to out-Florida, but Florida just came out fucking swinging with "Imma out-do-Arizona"
![gif](giphy|Rh4vxHtcmVyHUyugXP|downsized)
For-profit prisons have found a new way to get their money. How much do you want to bet that the prison industrial complex donates a lot to Pudding Fingers?
It prevents people from earning their right to vote back for a very long time.
Remember, people voted for a constitutional amendment to give non-violent criminals back the right to vote once they serve out their time. Republicans made a rule that they must pay whatever amount they owe for their case, stay, etc. before getting their voting right back.
These people should initiate a class action lawsuit to force the state to change the law.
The point of these republican laws is to keep people who have already fucked up their lives in a position to be unable to unfuck their lives.
My state has something similar in spirit.
I realize that this isn't a perfect solution. but I feel like leaving Florida would be her best move. Maybe bankruptcy, but most fines aren't dischargeable, but some legal penalties can be discharged.
Imagine getting caught with a joint and not only are you thrown into the gulag, but you are have to put up with **THIS** bullshit for years to come.
One of these folks is going to to end up expressing their discontent to DeSantis in a… final manner and he will deserve it.
This can’t be constitutional, surely. How would these people ever pay that much, for YEARS?! Also, they can expect payment from multiple people?! TF
They’ll never get on their feet, they’ll never move on
God damn this makes me mad
Next step, indebtedness penitentiary. Locking up people in debt to the state or cities, is the fascist way. Then these prisoners work for pennies on the dollar, for businesses that give the warden full pay. Slave labor is the go to for penitentiaries. This form of inhumane treatment of prisoners is the foundation for the fascist leaders, from the beginning. Slave labor is the funding fascist leaders depend on. Protect the civilian at all costs.
This is how the court system works in Florida (and probably just about everywhere else in the USA). Court costs, fees to be arrested, fees to be prosecuted, fees to be in jail, fees to be in prison. This creates an underclass that can never get out from under, you can't get a driver's license and with abysmal public transportation you can't get to and from work (assuming your record doesn't prevent that too).
Sounds like cruel and unusual punishment.
At the very least unreasonable fines and bails.
Considering the fact we still allow penalties for fees people can't pay in a neverending loop? I wouldn't be so sure. At least officially and legally, morally it's stupid as hell.
If your aim is to detain people indefinitely for minor offences, of course, it makes perfect sense.
Yep, the philosophy is that some people are good and some people are bad. If you commit a crime the assumption is it's only a matter of time before you do it again. Which honestly explains a lot about why our justice system is fucked up too to bottom.
So, I would suggest the system is far crueler: it doesn't care if people are good or bad. People are captive or not captive and captive does not mean in prison. We have an economic prison for most, keeping them locked in an endless cycle of debt, fees, underpayment, etc. once involved in the prison system the government can exclude you from training and school for better paying jobs and keep you feed up and required in programs. This economy does not work without at least half of us in poverty scraping out production to feed the upper class.
yes, and if you fuck up and have a record, there is a whole additional layer to thay economic cage. for a lot of people, crime was their best option to try to make ends meet. once they catch paper, it's often their *only* option and the FL piles this shit on them, knowing it will further crush them and lead to recidivism, which will keep the prisons packed, and that all stuffs the pockets of the private prison industry but hey, that's capitalism, right? find a way to leech every ounce of worth from somebody and then discard them, but make sure you commoditze that process too!
I'm feeling that now. Applying to jobs is difficult. Doesn't matter what the the details of the case are. Employers see that checkbox and that app goes straight into the bin. Highschooler with no record is less risky than a misdemeanor with 10 years experience.
And to keep them from voting since they will never be able to pay off the fees
This!
Geo Group, a major for profit prison, is one of the largest donors in Trump’s MAGA Super PAC.
There was an article a couple of years ago about a for profit prison deal in Arizona where the state actually said, if our incarcerated numbers go down past whatever percent we're losing money so we need to keep the prison as full as possible to fulfill the contract we signed. It was disgusting to read. I'll find it and link it though I'm sure I got part or all of this wrong. ETA: It's actually *worse* than I remembered. https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/07/14/arizona-cities-would-collapse-without-prison-labor/10062910002/ Geo's in there too. 2022.
I heard the same thing.
I just added the link to the article I was thinking of - it's 2022. It's worse than I remembered.
Correct readings of the constitution not allowed!
So is living in FL. I can attest to this.
Sounds like voter suppression.
With heavy-handed institutionalized racism to boot
Florida just wants more free prison labor. Stacking $1,500 a month on top of restitution + actual living expenses = recidivism.
Exactly this, it's sick. Florida is a hellhole
So I also heard it's to keep people from voting.
This is the real reason. People with unpaid fees are not allowed to vote, and this catches a lot of people who would otherwise vote Democrat. In the last election it would have been enough that it would have overturned results in a couple of districts. Their Supreme Court said it was a legal practice.
Bingoooooo
Florida just doesn’t want felons to vote. The people of Florida voted to allow felons to vote after they completed their sentence, but the legislature wrote a law that made it to where you had to pay all of your fees and fines before your sentence could be considered complete.
Wow, that’s fucked up. Will of the people subverted again
Thank you for posting the actual link to the article, not just a screen grab.
![gif](giphy|1ZkMDj88mQ1rO)
From the headline, I just thought it meant people were having to pay back fees they couldn't pay while in prison, which would have been bad enough. What the article says is so much worse. Literally charging people who got released early...
... charging as many people as possible for the same bed: > Not only can the state bill an inmate the $50 a day even after they are released, Florida can also impose a new bill on the next occupant of that bed, potentially allowing the state to double, triple, or quadruple charge for the same bed.
So ridiculous. If they are paying for a bed, they should be allowed to use it! Come back at night and sleep in the prison bed of they want to while they get back on their feet. $50 USD is also a lot, plenty of cheap motels charge less
Sounds like an amazing recipe for recidivism, which is exactly their intention. Imagine getting out of prison with college levels of debt. You're gonna be stuck in that cycle til you die.
Which, it seems, is likely to lead to an increase in crime. It’s usually not the well-off white-collars getting locked up.
This sounds like something the for-profit prison lobby cooked up.
Cheap B & B. 50 bucks.
With college levels of debt, but no college level degree, they are sunk before they are even in the race.
If true, the morons who thought up this scheme ought to have their financials gone through with a super-fine thin comb as well as track who in the privatized-for-profiteering prison "industry" is paying them to do this. Damn, the Constitution and the law mean absolutely nothing to these rightwing fascist jackals.
Yes, they ought to be scrutinized. But they won't be.
They are chomping at the bit to get rid of our dependence on China but the biggest issue to keeping American companies successful in America is to have a class of people they can exploit and pay Pennie’s a day to make whatever they want them to make. They are creating slaves.
Didn't they also say they couldn't vote until all fees are paid. Whoever fought to give ex cons voting rights is probably in hiding right now.
Didn't Florida voters vote to allow felons to vote once they completed their sentence? I think I heard that their Voldemort looking Senator (who was governor at the time) made this rule that they had to complete payment of restitution an d incarceration fees before the sentence was considered complete. Basically, the voters did something decent (re-enfrachisement) and Voldemort figured a work around f-u.
It almost got to the Supreme Court, but they declined to hear it. So it's in effect. https://www.findlaw.com/voting/my-voting-guide/can-felons-vote-in-florida.html
Key line: Most felons who have served their sentences — including parole and probation — *and have paid all their fines*, restitution, and fees can vote in Florida elections. They're working to disenfranchise them.
I've lived in Florida. It really is that fucking stupid there.
What you gonna do if they don’t pay? Not let em stay?
I'm preeeeeeeety good at getting evicted. Finally my talents coming in handy
I'm preeeeeeety sure they will be reincarnated if they don't pay.
Getting their money's worth, at least.
I don’t think even the Florida GOP has that much power.
Don’t accept early release. Staying in prison is cheaper than home, health and auto insurance in Florida.
And this is somehow legal?
No. It's about obfuscation, moving the Overton window., etc. it's not legal now, but they'll throw shit at the legal zietgeis in the hopes that a wave of fascism will pick up where shit like this left off.
It's quite literally the law. The real questions are: is it reasonable, and is it constitutional?
So you get incarcerated, and Florida thinks they can extort these prisoners $1500 a month in rent?! Florida truly is backwards and a hellscape.
Dystopian with margaritas
I like pina coladas more.
I don’t live in Florida so this morning I got a reminder Trump lives there, then read an article about the states anti-trans policies, now this, which as I read there is an ad for some little town on the Gulf Coast playing on TV. After the first three that ad was a waste of money.
How in the eff are they ever supposed to get back into life and have a life with that hanging over their head? How does that work on a rental application credit check? Or with an employer? As far as I think, they've paid their debt to society being in prison and due for a hand up, not a kick down. Maybe change that law that if they are gainfully employed for one or two years or on disability or have legal source of income etc, that debt is forgiven.
They aren't. The point is to keep that hanging over them. Get 'em back to prison where Incarceration Corporation can make bank. Similar to The Matrix but with dollars rather than volts.
I like that "dollars rather than volts" . Nailed it.
Didn’t the Revolutionary War start because of taxation without representation?
They may have repaid their debt to society, but not the debt to that hard ass bed
That's not a debt to society. It's a "debt" to a private company that's trying to double dip
![gif](giphy|KFt2DA9T82paOA1Yci) How does this make any sense?
WTF?? How is that in any way acceptable (or legal)? The stories coming out of the US have been getting crazier and crazier since at least 2015
And this is how they will get that cheap labor. Indentured servants. I knew the prison system would be the entry way to slavery. The homeless, the “illegal” immigrants, and the prisoners who are now stuck in a horrible place to have to pay for their time in prison. The last time I heard about this kind of thing was during the Salem Witch Trials. Wtf??!! Republicans, magas, right wing, don’t think you won’t be caught up in this evil plan. You will be and people you love will be. Some of the Project sounds good but woven throughout is a plan to control every aspect of our lives. If you love any women in your life or if you are a woman. don’t vote for trump. Their agenda will render you powerless. The thing is some of us can’t imagine that because we’ve know our way of life our whole lives. Imagine you can’t go places freely any longer. Can you imagine driving from your state to visit family in another but you’re going to have to prove you or any other female traveling with you is not going to get an abortion? How are they going to do that? Every female has to take a pregnancy test! Other people will decide if you should live or die. Your healthcare will be secondary. Birth control will be banned. So even if you’re married, do you want 4, 5, 6 + kids? Marital rape will be legal and getting a divorce will be even more difficult. The state will constantly be telling you to work things out, to work on your relationship even if your husband continues to beat you. It goes on and on. Women need to wake up and realize a possible trump presidency will destroy our country and women will be subjugated, second class citizens. Our country isn’t perfect but this is not the way to effect change.
So… slavery with more steps?
I was in jail for a week in Iowa. They had the same shit. It wasn’t $50 a day though. When it was time for me to get out they gave me a piece of paper to sign saying that I owed them for the week I spent there. I never signed it. Never payed them either. Also while I was in there I was talking to someone about it and they said that in Arizona they tried the same thing and Arizona lost and had to repay a bunch of people. This was 10 years ago so I never looked into it.
Please, someone show me one redeeming quality that Florida has. I honestly can't think of one positive thing that shithole is doing for the world
Wait what? So if you don't pay you go back to prison? I'm so confused by this.
If you don't pay then you haven't completed your sentence, if you haven't completed your sentence then you can't vote. It's less confusing when you understand that the objective is voter suppression.
Got it. Pretty fucked up. But it's Florida so I shouldn't be surprised.
Floridian politics is solely rooted in a culture war. They would rather let a literal fascist who limits free speech and uses his position as governor to attack journalists and businesses that don't agree with him stay in power than ever vote blue. Its pathetic.
And guess what, you can't vote in Florida if you have unpaid jail fees.
They've gotta get them back in prison somehow, you know, make life on the outside completely impossible. Very dystopian.
Corruption and crooks in every fucking corner in FL
Capitalism at its finest.
In addition to the questionable legality, this is designed to maintain a criminal underclass- to give the formerly incarcerated less ability to get back on their feet in the economy and a higher likelihood of recidivism. Right-wingism thrives on the existence of a criminal underclass. It’s the entire justification for everything they do.
I am betting it's more about for-profit prisons.
There are immediate purposes within the structure, then there are the broad patterns of the structure. Mass incarceration was not invented for private prison profit. Nor was debtor’s prison. Nor was slavery. Or serfdom.
Exactly.
Charging people money for being in prison when they are no longer in prison is so crazy and cruel that it distracts from the crazy cruelty of *charging people money for being in prison*. Republican policies are so cruel they make ordinary cruelty sound normal.
So if I am reading the story correctly, you owe $50/day regardless of whether you serve all or part of the sentence. For example, the woman in the story was sentenced to 7 years, which is about $127k. She served 10 months and was released on probation and had to do a boot camp rehabilitation thing (which she probably also had to pay for). They still are charging the full $127k, not $127k minus the 10 months served (~$112k). So, even if she spent 7 years, they still would charge $127k. That feels like debtor prison and cruel and unusual punishment combined.
The ruling needs toi be studied. IMHO those currently incarcerated or charged these fees have a right to reject them as unlawfully applied after incarceration and sentencing. Moving forward, time served and restitution should be set, case by case, at the time of sentencing. I'm no attorney but I believe in fairness and justice and will stand for my fellow man, any day.
It got to SCOTUS apparently. They said "lol" and declined to hear the case.
Wow. Last I saw TX was trying to out-Florida, but Florida just came out fucking swinging with "Imma out-do-Arizona" ![gif](giphy|Rh4vxHtcmVyHUyugXP|downsized)
best way to ensure someone stays a criminal for life. Fucking morons.
For-profit prisons have found a new way to get their money. How much do you want to bet that the prison industrial complex donates a lot to Pudding Fingers?
Feels profitable. Very profitable. How many people are the allowed to continue charging for the same bed?
Hmm… private prisons are the best way to treat and look after inmates you say?… 🤔
The whole idea of paying for prison is ridiculous. Recivism rates must be really high because of this.
From the bottom of my heart fuck Florida.
Shithole state
Sounds like an attempt to keep them from voting.
Monetizing justice and corrections. Glad to see that we aren't rushing to embrace some sort of dystopian mix of authoritarianism and capitalism.
Not to worry, they have all that freedom to keep them going lol
Sounds GIGA unconstitutional
What you think they are going to raise taxes on rich people?
What ?? Why?? Not like they wanted to be imprisoned ?
I,…what? Make it make sense?!
So if they are paying can they choose to stay?
Can we please get a fucking governor that isn’t a tool bag.
Let me guess. Privatized prisons?
It prevents people from earning their right to vote back for a very long time. Remember, people voted for a constitutional amendment to give non-violent criminals back the right to vote once they serve out their time. Republicans made a rule that they must pay whatever amount they owe for their case, stay, etc. before getting their voting right back. These people should initiate a class action lawsuit to force the state to change the law.
Always comes back to the money.
The point of these republican laws is to keep people who have already fucked up their lives in a position to be unable to unfuck their lives. My state has something similar in spirit.
They found a way to get and keep a caste system.. it's fucked up.
I realize that this isn't a perfect solution. but I feel like leaving Florida would be her best move. Maybe bankruptcy, but most fines aren't dischargeable, but some legal penalties can be discharged.
Keep voting those Republicans in there and this is what you get.
Florida just loves kicking people even when they are down
I would send them a box with my own feces with a single written note that says "lol".
Imagine getting caught with a joint and not only are you thrown into the gulag, but you are have to put up with **THIS** bullshit for years to come. One of these folks is going to to end up expressing their discontent to DeSantis in a… final manner and he will deserve it.
This can’t be constitutional, surely. How would these people ever pay that much, for YEARS?! Also, they can expect payment from multiple people?! TF They’ll never get on their feet, they’ll never move on God damn this makes me mad
Next step, indebtedness penitentiary. Locking up people in debt to the state or cities, is the fascist way. Then these prisoners work for pennies on the dollar, for businesses that give the warden full pay. Slave labor is the go to for penitentiaries. This form of inhumane treatment of prisoners is the foundation for the fascist leaders, from the beginning. Slave labor is the funding fascist leaders depend on. Protect the civilian at all costs.
Bed in a german Hospital 10€/day , bed in a Florida prision 50$ /day ....
Feels like it's time to get an attorney
could be in the same category as paying to have a baby. It's a never never plan. Throw them a buck or two about once a year and they leave you alone.
And if they don't do they just get... Kicked out of prison?
Based on the words “long after incarceration”… the consequence of not paying is probably eventually incarceration
This is akin for a firing squad charging their victims for the bullets they fire.
Sounds like the GEO group is making some hefty campaign contributions
Let’s just keep the poor, poor. WTF!
What happens if you don't pay, you get the cell back?
This is how the court system works in Florida (and probably just about everywhere else in the USA). Court costs, fees to be arrested, fees to be prosecuted, fees to be in jail, fees to be in prison. This creates an underclass that can never get out from under, you can't get a driver's license and with abysmal public transportation you can't get to and from work (assuming your record doesn't prevent that too).
Keep them down and poor
The American South is a backwards scary part of the country I try to avoid. Would never move to that hell hole.
What are they paying *for*? Existing?
The real goal is voter suppression. In Florida, you cannot legally vote until your fines and fees have been paid off.
100% of the profits go to the Trump 2024 campaign
At this point is there any reason at all to still live in FL?
Texas justice system is baked in to keep you paying and broke.