Debtors’ prisons

In Oklahoma, they’re epidemic

The problem of debtors’ prisons in Oklahoma has slowly come out into the open in recent years. More and more criminal defendants have been unable to pay off the thousands of dollars in fines and fees piled on them by our justice system. When they fail to pay, a warrant is issued for their arrest, and they might spend several days in jail for the “crime” of being poor.

We mapped the millions of dollars in court debt in Tulsa and Oklahoma Counties and found that court debt per person is up to 10 times higher in low-income neighborhoods when compared to high-income neighborhoods. The financial burden is simply overwhelming for most of the people who bear the costs.

Ryan Gentzler is a policy analyst with Oklahoma Policy Institute. Find the rest of this article and more at okpolicy.org.