Bluefield Daily Telegraph in Bluefield, West Virginia

Poor offenders pay high price when probation turns on profit

In Rutherford County Tennessee and across about a dozen states, for profit probation ties supervision to fees, trapping low income offenders in debt. Steven Gibbs, 61, faced jail for failing a drug test he could not pay to take, until a judge moved him to a court supervised plan to settle fines. Critics call privatized probation a debt trap that jailizes poverty, while supporters cite cost savings and better revenue for governments.