Men and women in orange jumpsuits shuffled into the courtroom in Augusta, Georgia, their wrists and ankles bound by heavy shackles, one day in October 2012. Many had arrived there not because they had committed a new crime, but because they could not keep up with payments to the private probation company contracted to collect their court debt. Most of the crimes that started them on this road were small—traffic offenses like switched tags and driving without a license, most of which are misdemeanors in Georgia. But their punishment quickly ballooned after they did not keep up with payments, leading the poorest to be punished more heavily simply because they have less.
Now, a bill headed to Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s desk would give unprecedented new power to the private probation industry driving this statewide system. It’s an industry, say human rights advocates, that has made millions profiting off the state’s poorest residents.
Vigorous lobbying by the private probation industry helped shape the bill. Originally conceived as an attempt to clarify the state’s approach to private probation, the bill instead pumps new energy into the system, by, among other things, allowing judges to extend probation terms for years and forcing low-level offenders to pay the daily costs of electronic monitoring.
“This is not your run of the mill housekeeping bill,” said Kathryn Hamoudah of the Southern Center for Human Rights, which has long advocated for reform in the burgeoning industry. “It is a gift to the private probation companies, giving them unprecedented authority to act as law enforcement.”
