Failure to Pay The Use of Debt-Based Carceral Sanctions and Warrants in Wisconsin’s Municipal Courts

Although municipal courts in Wisconsin do not enforce criminal penalties, many order the arrest and jailing of people for debt-based sanctions. Municipal courts use writs of commitment to authorize the arrest of individuals to pay off their debt after defaulting or warrants to compel court appearances or arrest and detainment of individuals for up to 48 hours before a court hearing when they default on payment and fail to appear. The ACLU of Wisconsin requested records and data from 220 municipal courts and 73 county jails to understand the scope of debt-based incarceration and the use of warrants and writs of commitments. Although they did not receive a 100 percent response rate, they found municipal courts in Wisconsin use a mix of commitments, warrants, state debt collection, and tax intercepts to collect debt. They also found that although most courts have ended the use of warrants or commitments, the ones they previously issued remain active and can be enforced. Further, the courts that do use warrants and commitments may actually pay more in enforcement because jail time to pay off debt is set at a minimum of $50 daily, and counties charge municipal courts to incarcerate people. The report concludes with recommendations to pursue more rational and equitable approaches to debt collection.

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Key Findings:

• Of the 173 courts that responded to the open records request, 52 used commitments, and 16 used warrants.
• Although some courts no longer issue commitments or warrants, 30 courts had active warrants and commitments, some of which are over 20 years old.
• 71 percent of warrants and 49 percent of commitments issued in Milwaukee were issued against Black individuals.
• 33 percent of people who were incarcerated in Las Crosse County jail were Black, although Black residents make up less than 2 percent of the population.
• Almost 500 writs of commitment issued by Waukesha Municipal Court were satisfied by serving jail time.
• Brown County billed Ashwaubenon Municipal Courts $1,400 to incarcerate 10 individuals between one and seventeen days.

Recommendations:

• Eliminate the use of commitments and warrants for failure to pay municipal forfeitures.
• Courts should appoint counsel during ability to pay hearings/good cause hearings.
• Courts should remove old outstanding warrants and commitments.
• Improve data collection and transparency in municipal courts.