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Friend,
The stately Victorian cupola of the original Chambers County Courthouse casts a cold morning shadow over the statue of favorite son Joe Louis, the famed “Brown Bomber” boxer who hailed from rural LaFayette, Alabama. A few feet away, lumber trucks rumble through the town’s main drag, leaving the scent of pine and diesel drifting in their wake.
Nortasha Jackson, 49, who lives in the nearby town of Valley, is inside the modern courthouse addition, waiting patiently for her name to be called. Her attorney told her that the charges against her were going to be dropped, ending a months-long ordeal that started when she fell behind on her trash bill.
Even though the concept of “debtors’ prison” has been declared unconstitutional, the town of Valley was dragged into the spotlight for its practice of arresting people who could not pay their bills. In November, 82-year-old Martha Menefield was arrested for owing $77 for trash pickup. Her story went viral online, and national media outlets carried it through several news cycles because of how preposterous the situation sounded.
But Menefield’s case was not unusual. The city of Valley has been arresting its citizens for years over past-due trash bills, adding hundreds if not thousands of dollars to the owed amount in fines and court costs by the poorest of its residents.
Southern Poverty Law Center attorney Micah West, who represented Jackson in her fight against City Hall, said the practice is at best misguided, if not flatly illegal.
“The Alabama and federal constitutions prohibit prosecuting people simply because they cannot pay a garbage bill,” West said. “Although we are pleased that Ms. Jackson’s ordeal is over, the city of Valley is currently prosecuting other people for violating a statute that does not make nonpayment a crime. We ask officials to dismiss those charges, too, and to take proactive steps to ensure that people who fall behind on their trash bills are not unfairly punished for their poverty.”
Not surprisingly, those charged under the policy are predominantly people of color.
‘We got a warrant’
Jackson, who is on disability and holds a job as a cashier, was arrested at her home over the Thanksgiving weekend. When police arrived and told her she was going to be taken to jail, her first reaction was to laugh.
“I was like, ‘What you want?’ and they said, ‘We got a warrant,’” Jackson said. “I was like, ‘These people are actually going to arrest me for my trash.’”
For the three months she was in arrears, Jackson owed $60. But after the arrest, her costs skyrocketed.
“You’re missing work, you’re getting arrested, you’re having to find a bondsman, because you can’t use your property [for a bond],” Jackson said. “They said mine [her bail] was going to be $2,500. Who’s going to have $2,500 when you don’t have $20 to pay your trash bill?”
Before taking on her cashier’s position, Jackson was living solely on her disability payment of about $930 a month.
“You have to pay mortgage or rent, even if you are staying in public housing, you still have to pay from $300 to $500,” she said. “And then your light bill is $100, $150. Food – we’re not even going to talk about food. You got baloney sandwiches and peanut butter sandwiches. Which one you want? In the summertime, you might get a tomato sandwich. But that’s about it.”
Aside from the economic challenges, Jackson said she wanted her story told in hopes that the law could be changed so no one else has to go through what she did. But many have already followed her path. The city of Valley issued 21 arrest warrants in the last two years to residents who failed to pay or participate in trash pickup. Thirteen of those residents – 62% – were Black, even though Black people comprise only 38% of Valley’s population.
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Sincerely,
Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
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