"A city court judge in Bogalusa, Louisiana, is operating a modern-day debtors’ prison by illegally jailing indigent people unable to pay fines or court costs – including a man fined for stealing $5 worth of food to feed his family, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The federal lawsuit describes how Judge Robert J. Black routinely sends people to jail for failure to pay fines or court costs for minor traffic tickets or misdemeanor violations without determining why they can’t pay. The court is significantly funded through court costs and fees, creating an incentive for the judge to find people guilty and coerce payment through the threat of jail, according to the lawsuit. The court operates in a city where 35 percent of residents live below the poverty line..." 

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