Debt Bondage: How Private Collection Agencies Keep the Formerly Incarcerated Tethered to the Criminal Justice System

In Washington, the clerk of courts can transfer the legal financial obligations of incarcerated people to a private debt collection agency if they are thirty days late making a payment. This article examines the statutes permitting this practice. The authors conclude that Washington State’s collection agency referral law, and similar laws in other states, may violate constitutional due process and excessive fine edicts. 

Reform Proposals: 

• Exempt LFOs from state law
• Cancel courts’ contracts with private debt collection agencies
• Curb unfair debt collection practices 
• Require collection fees to bear some rational relationship to the costs of collection 
• End transfers to debt collection agencies after only thirty days 
• Disallow the accrual of interest 
• Require an Ability to Pay analysis 
• Make contracts between courts and debt collection agencies uniform 

Read the full article here.