Plaintiffs Await Summary Judgment Decision in Lawsuit Challenging Abusive Pre-Trial Fees

In September of 2021, Equal Justice Under Law filed a lawsuit against Ravalli County, Montana, challenging the County’s “Jail Diversion Program.” The Jail Diversion Program is a division of the County’s Sheriff’s Office that charges hundreds of dollars per month to pre-trial arrestees before they have ever been convicted of any crime. In March of last year, Equal Justice Under Law published a Justice Report post announcing that our lawsuit survived the defendants’ motion to dismiss and a federal judge certified a class of indigent pre-trial arrestees who had been or would be charged pre-trial supervision and monitoring fees. Since then, Equal Justice Under Law has engaged in extensive discovery, reviewed thousands of pages of County documents, spoken with hundreds of class members who have been subject to the abusive fees, and taken depositions of several County officials and Jail Diversion Program officers.

The picture Equal Justice Under Law uncovered through litigation was even bleaker than the one painted in the amended complaint. Here is what we know: After individuals in Ravalli County are arrested and booked into County jail, they appear before a judge for their initial bail hearings. At these hearings, judges set bail and assign what are called “bail conditions” or “pre-trial release conditions.” These are conditions that arrestees must abide by while on pre-trial release as a condition of their bail. Most arrestees in Ravalli County are assigned to “pre-trial supervision” as well as one or more additional “monitoring conditions,” which may include alcohol monitoring, drug monitoring, or GPS monitoring. At these preliminary hearings, judges in Ravalli County assign a bail amount and bail conditions, but never specify that the conditions have associated fees or inform defendants how much those fees will be. It is not until arrestees post their bail amounts and go to the Jail Diversion Program’s office (located in the same building as the jail) that they learn about the Program’s fees and fee amounts. Typically, while still handcuffed and in orange jail garb, without an attorney present, arrestees are forced to sign numerous contracts agreeing to pay:

·         $105 per month as a “pre-trial supervision” fee;

·         $204 per month for a drug patch;

·         $112 per month for twice daily alcohol blow tests;

·         $300 per month for an alcohol monitoring bracelet;

·          $270 per month for a remote breathalyzer device;

·         $390 per month for a GPS bracelet; and/or

·         Anywhere from $160-$480 per month for urinalysis testing.

Every arrestee must pay the $105 per month supervision fee, and almost all arrestees are also assigned to at least one additional condition. The most common scenario for class members in this lawsuit is supervision plus alcohol or drug monitoring, bringing their monthly total fees to $217 on the low end all the way up to $485 on the high end (or even more if they are assigned to multiple conditions, such as GPS plus alcohol monitoring). These costs are significant for anyone, but Equal Justice Under Law’s clients are all indigent, meaning they do not have enough money to make ends meet as it is, without the imposition of these fees. Many class members are disabled, receiving public benefits, and caring for multiple children and other family members. Many are housing and food insecure, and some have been forced to forego rent, grocery, and healthcare payments in order to satisfy their Jail Diversion Program debts.

If arrestees in Ravalli County do not make these payments, myriad consequences ensue. They are sometimes denied enrollment in services altogether; other times, they are permitted to enroll but denied drug testing if they don’t make their payments in advance. If someone doesn’t make their pre-trial supervision payments three months in a row, they are removed from services completely. Any one of these consequences puts arrestees in direct violation of their court-ordered bail conditions. When someone released on bail violates their bail conditions, their bail can be revoked and they can be sent back to jail. The result is a modern-day debtors’ prison: people who cannot afford the program fees can be rearrested and incarcerated solely because they are poor and not because of the commission of any crime.

But we at Equal Justice Under Law know that being poor is not a crime and should not be treated as one in Ravalli County or anywhere in a country that promises equal justice for all people. As Justice Black pronounced in Griffin v. Illinois, a Supreme Court case from more than 60 years ago, “there can be no equal justice where the kind of trial a man gets depends on the amount of money he has.” Ravalli County fails to abide by this core constitutional principle, allowing people’s pocketbooks to dictate the way in which they move through the criminal legal system and thereby administering and endorsing a system that can only be described as unequal justice.

We will continue this fight on behalf of the Plaintiffs in this lawsuit, who should not be made to choose between paying for their basic necessities and paying Jail Diversion Program fees. On May 16, we argued our Motion for Summary Judgment before the federal judge, and we now await a decision. We remain confident that the due process and equal protection clauses of the Constitution favor our position, and we remain hopeful that no matter the outcome on summary judgment, we can work with Ravalli County to implement a system that is fair and just. To learn more about this and other cases fighting abusive supervision, visit our website or email info@equaljusticeunderlaw.org.