Several New Orleans-based bail bond companies, along with their insurance underwriters, have collectively overcharged poor defendants nearly $5 million over the last 12 years, in violation of state law, according to a complaint the SPLC filed today with the Louisiana Department of Insurance.
Under a settlement with the SPLC, the city court in Bogalusa, Louisiana, will stop jailing indigent defendants for failing to pay court debt – one of several reforms designed to ensure fairness for all people appearing before the court.
People awaiting trial before a criminal court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were coerced into paying hundreds of dollars to a company before they were released from jail – even after they had paid their bail, according to a federal lawsuit filed last night by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the ACLU of Louisiana.
People awaiting trial before a criminal court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were coerced into paying hundreds of dollars to a company before they were released from jail – even after they had paid their bail. The SPLC filed a federal lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of...
Two New Orleans bail bond companies working with two other businesses charged clients hidden and illegal fees – even sending armed bounty hunters to kidnap clients and extort money from their friends and family. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit to stop the practice.
The...
Louisiana may soon lose its title as the world’s leader in incarceration.
Louisiana’s Bogalusa City Court has agreed to issue $50 refunds to settle part of a federal lawsuit that describes how the court and a city judge operated a modern-day debtors’ prison by illegally jailing indigent people too poor to pay fines and court costs, the Southern Poverty Law Center announced today.
The SPLC and allies asked a judge today to certify a lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s broken public defender system as a class action case – citing an expert report that describes how the state’s overburdened public defense system fails to protect indigent defendants’ constitutional right to counsel.
Hundreds of Louisianans gathered at the state Capitol in Baton Rouge this week as part of an effort by the SPLC and grassroots groups to show support for reforms aimed at ending the state’s status as the nation’s leader in incarceration.
The SPLC is urging a half dozen hospitals in Louisiana and Mississippi this week to comply with federal laws and regulations designed to protect low-income patients from harsh collection practices.
