ACLU Challenges Unconstitutional Debtors’ Prison Practices in South Carolina County
In the latest pushback against modern-day debtors’ prisons, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of South Carolina, and Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC filed a class-action lawsuit today challenging the illegal arrest and incarceration of poor people in Lexington County, South Carolina. Victims are arrested on warrants and incarcerated when they cannot afford to pay fines for traffic and other misdemeanor offenses. They remain in jail for weeks to months without seeing a judge, having a court hearing, or receiving help from a lawyer.
