RSN: The Stealth Expansion of a Secret US Drone Base in Africa, ACLU: Mississippi City Runs Debtors' Prison, China Environment Bureau Says Coca-Cola Bottling Plant Falsified Pollution Data

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Andy Borowitz | With Webb Out of Race, Chafee Surges to Two Per Cent

Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker
Borowitz writes: "In the aftermath of former Virginia senator James Webb's announcement that he is quitting the Democratic Presidential primary, a new poll shows his bitter rival Lincoln Chafee surging to two per cent of likely voters."
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Nick Turse | The Stealth Expansion of a Secret US Drone Base in Africa
Nick Turse, The Intercept
Turse writes: "In the sun-bleached badlands of the tiny impoverished nation of Djibouti - where unemployment hovers at a staggering 60 percent and the per capita gross domestic product is about $3,100 - sits a hive of high-priced, high-tech American hardware."
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Kathy Kelly | Learn Your Lessons Well: An Afghan Teenager Makes Up His Mind
Kathy Kelly, teleSUR
Kelly writes: "Many of Esmatullah's neighbors might understand if he wanted to retaliate and seek vengeance against the Taliban. Others would understand if he wished the same revenge on the United States. But he instead aligns himself with young men and women insisting that 'Blood doesn't wipe away blood.'"
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Three Years After US Consulate Attack, Benghazi Still at War
Ayman Al-Warfalli, Reuters
Al-Warfalli writes: "Three years after militants killed U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in an attack on the facility, Benghazi is back in U.S. news headlines as White House contender and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton faces a Congressional hearing on the incident on Thursday. For Libyans and Benghazi, though, the war never really disappeared."
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ACLU: Mississippi City Runs Debtors' Prison
Mollie Bryant, The Clarion-Ledger
Bryant writes: "An increased reliance on revenue from court fees and traffic fines has led the city of Biloxi and a for-profit probation services company to run a 'modern-day debtors' prison,' according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday."
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n increased reliance on revenue from court fees and traffic fines has led the city of Biloxi and a for-profit probation services company to run a “modern-day debtors’ prison,” according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The American Civil Liberties Union alleges the city jails impoverished people for unpaid fees and court costs in a system that violates the fourth and 14th amendments.

The suit seeks damages on behalf of three plaintiffs who were arrested for not paying debts owed to the city. According to the suit, which was filed against the city, Police Chief John Miller, Municipal Court Judge James Steele and Judicial Correction Services Inc., none of the plaintiffs received a hearing or were informed of their right to an attorney before their arrests.

Biloxi Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich would not comment on the suit, and city spokesman Vincent Creel said in an emailed statement that the city has not yet received it.

“However, based on media inquiries, we believe the ACLU is mistaken about the process in Biloxi, and we look forward to explaining it to the ACLU,” the statement said. “The city of Biloxi treats all defendants fairly under the law.”

If a person doesn’t pay court fees or other fines, the city often issues warrants for their arrest and charges them with contempt of court without holding a hearing before they’re jailed or determining their ability to pay, according to the suit. Unless they can pay the whole amount owed in full – and often in cash – at the time of the arrest, they are booked into jail.

The three plaintiffs, each of whom fall below the poverty line, were jailed for failing to pay fines without being informed that they had a right to be represented by an attorney, the suit alleges. They also weren’t told when they’d be released from jail or when they’d see a judge, it says..

According to the lawsuit, a person who can’t afford to pay what they owe can “sit out” their fines at a rate of $25 per day, a practice that the U.S. Court of Appeals outlawed decades ago.

During the whole process, defendants in Municipal Court don’t receive court-appointed attorneys, even if they are homeless or receive public assistance, court records claim. None of the three plaintiffs named in the suit was represented by a lawyer at any point after their arrest, leading up to their hearings or during the hearings themselves, according to the lawsuit.

For about six years, Biloxi has allowed for-profit companies - Judicial Corrections Services in the past and Court Programs Inc. currently - to collect fines and fees related to misdemeanors.

The companies place those who owe money to the city on payment plans. Part of each monthly fee goes toward the money owed to the city, but an additional $40 service fee goes straight to the company, court records claim.

That $40 fee is the companies’ main revenue source, because the city doesn’t pay them for their work, according to the lawsuit.

“It’s a perverse system that means poor people are ultimately required to pay more than people of means who can pay on time,” ACLU attorney Nusrat Choudhury said. “It also requires them to report to probation. Probation companies should really not be in the business of collecting debts from people, and if they are, they need to be sure it respects their constitutional rights, and that’s not the case in Biloxi.”

Creel said the court uses community service when defendants are unable to pay fines. However, in one case described in the lawsuit, a woman asked for community service several times, and a Court Programs Inc. worker, LeAnne Womble, told her it wouldn’t be an option until she’d been on probation for at least three months. Womble also said the woman would owe $20 per probation visit even if she received community service, the suit said.

Womble, the director of CPI’s Biloxi office,would not comment.

The lawsuit against Biloxi is the second filed against a Mississippi city this month over debtors’ prison allegations. Jackson faces a similar lawsuit that alleges the city jailed impoverished people, some for months, for nonpayment of fines and court costs without examining their ability to pay.

Federal Communications Agency Votes to Drastically Lower Prison Phone Rates
Alice Ollstein, ThinkProgress
Ollstein writes: "After agreeing with Clyburn and calling the current phone rates 'absurdly usurious,' FCC Chair Tom Wheeler called for a vote, which came down 2 to 3. Cheers erupted in the room, including from 19-year-old Illinois resident Wandjell Harvey-Robinson, whose parents have been in and out of prison since she was in the 3rd grade."
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China Environment Bureau Says Coca-Cola Bottling Plant Falsified Pollution Data
Reuters
Excerpt: "An environmental protection bureau in northwest China said police temporarily detained an executive at a Coca-Cola Co bottling facility in Gansu province after it found the facility had falsified pollution data."
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