Some Wiregrass cities under threat of federal lawsuit

Operating municipal court systems with the aid of contracted service from private-for profit probation companies is illegal, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).  The southeast Alabama municipalities of Newton, Clayhatchee, Midland City, Troy, Slocomb, Ashford, Cottonwood and Gordon are currently in active contracts with Judicial Correction Services (JCS) or another company, Judicial Case Management (JCM).

Deputy Legal Director of the SPLC, Sam Brooke, said, “Those cities are in danger. At some point we do intend to take legal action to protect indigent people in these areas. We are hopeful that these other cities will do the right thing and terminate the contracts.” There are about 40 towns and cities statewide with active contracts with JCS, he said.

The SPLC filed a federal lawsuit against JCS and the city of Clanton in March, accusing JCS of extorting money from the poor. Clanton officials terminated the contract, settling their suit out of court. The lawsuit against JCS still stands.  Brooke said previously that JCS targets people who live paycheck to paycheck, ultimately, in many cases, doubling their fines when the defendant cannot immediately pay the balance.

Some 100 letters were mailed to cities across the state. In those letters, Brooke said, “Pay-only probation schemes provided by JCS are unconstitutional and illegal for a number of reasons. First (your) contract is unconstitutional if it grants JCS an exclusive right to probation, and it is not publicly bid. Second, the contract is void because it requires probationers to pay monthly supervision fees, and probation fees, in municipal court, are not authorized by law. Third, it creates a conflict of interest that is unconstitutional under the due process clause, as it allows a for-profit corporation with direct financial incentives to oversee probation.”

Even though Slocomb, Ashford, and Gordon have contracts with JCM as opposed to JCS, Brooke said they are still in danger of being sued by the SPLC because “all” of the private probation companies operate in the same way. “We are very concerned with all of these cities,” Brooke said. The cities of Enterprise, Level Plains, Daleville, and Ozark have since decided to terminate their contracts with JCS. Clayhatchee Mayor Deloris Salter said her council will take up the matter at this week’s council meeting. Newton and Midland City mayors did not return messages from The Sun.

Currently,  Brooke said 66 cities have cancelled contracts with JCS and 7 other cities have cancelled contracts with other private probation companies.

The original lawsuit against JCS and its manager, Steven Raymond, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.