Introduction
Most Georgians will get a traffic ticket in their lifetime. Some may have to go to court for these and other minor infractions because of an inability to pay or a traffic offense that requires a court hearing. Given their commonality, it is critical that there is integrity across the system – from Georgia’s local courts to misdemeanor probation providers – to ensure that people of all income levels can pay off court fines and fees and that penalties are proportionate to the offense. Lack of state investment in our local courts and allowing for-profit probation companies to wield influence over local judicial authorities can undermine public safety in pursuit of profit. There are a variety of fines and fees associated with minor offenses like traffic infractions, lapsed vehicle insurance or registration, and pedestrian violations, such as crossing the street without a “walk” signal. Individuals who cannot immediately pay are subject to supervision by private probation companies motivated by profit. Those individuals face debts that can be exponentially higher than their initial penalty. Georgia can move away from a for-profit model to fund local court services, which effectively extracts wealth from people with low incomes, raises their likelihood of debt-related incarceration and thereby increases fiscal costs related to incarceration. An initial step to reverse these trends would be to close state law loopholes that allow private probation companies to extend fees and sentences in order to bolster their profits.
All of Georgia’s Crises Around Fines and Fees Collide in Augusta
Georgia is one of a dozen states that allow private, for-profit probation companies to contract with local court systems to supervise and collect court fines and fees from those who are sentenced to misdemeanor probation.[1] This includes those placed on “pay-only” misdemeanor probation, which is criminalization solely due to a person’s inability to pay fines and fees up front.[2] This arrangement gives private companies leverage through local courts to pursue profit for themselves by charging people on probation with supervision and program fees. Those private companies then split a share of each payment with local courts until they recoup all the initial court fine and fee charges. The share of each payment allocated to supervision and program fees is kept as profit. It incentivizes private probation companies to maximize payment periods and probation sentences. Thus, local courts receive revenue collection services from private companies at no cost but do so by harming a community’s most vulnerable.
Augusta lies at Georgia’s epicenter of harms tied to for-profit misdemeanor probation.[3] In 2012 lawsuits from metro Augusta residents sparked nationwide challenges against the use of for-profit probation.[4] Opposition to the abusive supervision practices of Georgia’s then-largest for-profit probation provider, Sentinel Offender Services, led to statewide reforms. They included three-month caps on pay-only probation supervision fees, new state oversight and probation data reporting requirements. This also led to Sentinel pulling its private probation services out of Georgia. By 2017, CRSA Probation Services ending up acquiring many of Sentinel’s contracts,[5] including those with Augusta courts, taking Sentinel’s place as Georgia’s largest private provider.[6]
Since 2019 Augusta’s misdemeanor probation rates have been among the highest in the state, while successful exits from misdemeanor probation have been among the lowest. Data from 2021 and 2022 show that more than 80% of Augusta’s misdemeanor cases have been non-serious traffic offenses.[7] Metro Augusta has some of the state’s highest concentrations of Georgians with low incomes. For Georgians experiencing poverty, a private probation model provides few to no easy exits from misdemeanor probation supervision.
Here is one of those experiences:
Private Probation in Augusta: By the Numbers
Events likes these perpetuate a cycle of economic insecurity that Ms. M faces, and the money extracted from her further fuels Georgia’s court fines and fees and for-profit probation system. Her story highlights common outcomes from typical for-profit probation company practices. For-profit probation companies’ collection practices often include setting unnecessarily high payment plans, arresting or threatening to arrest for non- or partial payments and increasing the frequency of reporting requirements that those under probation must follow.[8] Any of these actions could increase the likelihood that someone with inflexible economic circumstances will miss payments or check-ins or have other infractions that could lead to consequences from being listed as non-compliant.[9] Also, those facing economic hardships while on probation may only be able to make payments by forgoing rent, groceries, medicine or other necessities.
Metro Augusta has some of the state’s highest concentrations of Georgians with low incomes, and individuals in poverty often suffer the most from predatory for-profit probation practices. Between 2019 and 2022, at least 25% of Black and Latino residents in Richmond and Burke County experienced poverty, twice the state average. Poverty was even more concentrated in three majority-Black cities within Burke County – Sardis, Midland and Waynesboro. At various points between 2019 and 2022, 50% or more of Black residents in these three cities experienced poverty. These rates were 3 to 4 times the state average and among some of the highest poverty concentrations in the state.[10]
These are often the metro-Augusta residents that become criminalized, frequently because they could not immediately pay their way out of minor offenses such as a broken taillight, lapsed insurance or registration or speeding. They must also navigate another city in Burke County – Blythe – which has consistently relied on abusive revenue-gathering practices by its police and courts to balance its local budget. (When a locality relies on fines and fees for at least ten percent of its total budget, researchers consider those fines and fees high and abusive.[11]) Just minutes away from Hepzibah and other parts of Richmond County, Blythe’s court fines and fees made up $210,000 of its $730,000 in public revenue in 2023. This accounted for 29% of its budget, one of the highest fines and fees reliance levels in the state.[12]
Visible and Hidden Costs of Private Probation
For those in Georgia who cannot immediately pay their way out of traffic or other minor offenses, the immediately visible costs of private probation put them at risk of being tied to it for longer periods. Those individuals also face penalties that are not proportionate to their offense. Penalties include unpaid fines and fees from the initial offense plus probation supervision fees, program or class fees that are bundled into high minimum payment plan amounts that can be weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. These costs alone can leave someone paying criminal legal debts that can reach five times the amount a person of means would pay for the same offense.[13] For example, someone with the means to pay a $1,200 fine for a minor offense would avoid the criminal legal system and move on with their lives. Someone without means who commits the same offense but cannot afford to pay the same associated $1,200 fine by the time of their court hearing could spend 24 months under private probation supervision to pay off the fine and incur $35 per month in private probation fees. If they could only afford to make monthly minimum payments of $85 they would end up paying $840 in probation fees, totaling $2,040 being paid over that 24-month period.[14]
Georgians earning low incomes also face hidden costs, which include time, financial (lost wages) and a mental and physical health toll of juggling inflexible work arrangements or multiple jobs. Shift work, unpredictable schedules and less access to benefits and work protections are common characteristics of low-wage jobs, making it difficult to balance their demands and attend multiple court dates, perform community service to pay off fines and fees and attend mandated programs or classes as part of probation compliance. The “pile-on” effect of these costs creates impossible choices that increase a person’s likelihood of falling out of compliance with probation terms. Because for-profit probation’s survival depends on its ability to raise revenue, Georgians unable to navigate and pay those costs are unlikely to get relief. Instead, they face extended probation terms, more fines and fees, deeper poverty and possible incarceration.
Atrocities like these are not isolated. Hundreds of local governments have courts that contract with private probation companies. Those courts operate in or near 86 cities and counties with excessive reliance on court fines and fees.[15] These cities and counties set revenue quotas that rely on minimal due process in courts, higher than normal traffic stops from law enforcement, and excessive citations for traffic offenses and ordinance violations. All of these can be gateways for Georgians with low incomes to become trapped in private probation.
Harms Within Augusta Communities Spotlight Need for Probation Reforms Based in Fairness
Despite reforms that placed three-month caps on private probation supervision fees, Georgians entangled in probation for minor offenses still face ongoing harms.[16] For instance, courts may substitute community service for a portion of someone’s court debt if they face economic hardship, but that substitution typically removes their “pay-only” probation status. This status change makes them ineligible for the three-month cap on supervision fees for the duration of their probation sentence. Those who struggle to make payments with a three-month cap face even greater risks of falling behind and into non-compliance without it. Among other county courts, Augusta’s Richmond County court system converts the state’s second highest amount of community service hours from fines. This suggests that those sentenced to pay-only probation there may have nearly the least likelihood of having their monthly supervision fees capped at three months.
Judges also commonly stack pay-only probation sentences on top of each other for those with low-incomes who commit multiple minor traffic offenses.[17] While judges may see this as granting a larger window to pay off court and probation debt, Georgians with low-incomes may still fall behind on payments and face added consequences that could include jail as a form of payment. Richmond County’s long-overcrowded jail system held people at 119% of its jail population capacity in December 2022 and was at 106% by fall 2024.[18] Augusta’s criminalization of poverty through private probation and incarceration of people for probation non-compliance are both tied to individuals lacking the means to pay fines and probation fees. Ultimately Augusta’s practices also exacerbate public health crises and public costs associated with overcrowded jails.[19]
Potential Policy Options Offer the State an Opportunity to Help Reduce the Harms of Private Probation
Georgia could reject policies that effectively rely on wealth extraction and excessive criminal legal system entanglement of Georgians with low incomes to fund services that protect us all. It must embrace holistic public safety approaches – which include expanding economic, education and health justice – as multiple avenues to equitably boost opportunities that reduce criminal legal system entanglement. As part of advancing those goals, Georgia lawmakers could:
- Close loopholes that allow for-profit probation companies to skirt caps on probation fees solely because someone cannot pay their initial court fines and fees up front.
- Limit most misdemeanor probation sentences to one year; this will improve safeguards for those under private probation and reduce costs for public probation providers to allow for reinvestment in community-based programs and services that can co-exist with someone’s work, education or parenting obligations.
- Establish a centralized process to analyze and publicly report data from misdemeanor probation providers; this will lead to better evaluation and data-based improvements of Georgia’s misdemeanor probation system.
- Formalize court processes to ensure all courts inform Georgians of the terms and full costs associated with being sentenced to supervision under a for-profit probation provider; this will improve transparency, due process and successful exits from probation.
- Expand proactive state revenue sources that do not rely on Georgians’ criminal legal system entanglement to generate revenue; this will boost state funding for local court systems and help move away from reliance on court fines and fees.
[1] Davis, S. (2023 January). Missouri’s private probation industry: A county level assessment. Empower Missouri. This report was not publicly accessible as of November 6, 2024.
[2] Geller, A., Cohenap, S. (2016, March 12). Poor offenders pay high price when probation turns on profit. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/—–211575ef51a5450e891d47161e18d250
[3] For consistency within this brief, the term “Augusta” is meant to represent the Augusta Judicial Circuit, which encompasses Augusta-Richmond County courts, Burke County courts and municipal courts within both counties.
[4] Hodson, S. (2019, April 9). Class-action settlement offered in Sentinel suit. The Augusta Chronicle. https://www.augustachronicle.com/story/news/2019/04/09/class-action-settlement-to-end-vexed-private-probation-companys-local-contacts/5482853007/
[5] Cline, D. (2017, March 1). CSRA Probation Services acquires Sentinel. The Augusta Chronicle. https://www.augustachronicle.com/story/news/local/columbia-county-news-times/2017/03/01/csra-probation-services-acquires-sentinel/14169916007/
[6] Cline, D. (2018, April 15). The man behind Georgia’s largest private probation company. AP News. http://apnews.com/general-news-a6d9695a353c406ab995619e5854f90c
[7] GBPI analysis of misdemeanor traffic case data under Richmond and Burke County state courts, from Georgia Administrative Office of the Courts’ caseload dashboard. https://research.georgiacourts.gov/data-and-statistics/
[8] Griffin, G., McGuire, L. (2014 April). Misdemeanor probation operations audit report. Report number 12-06. Georgia Department of Audit and Accounts.
[9] GA Department of Audit and Accounts. (2014 April). Performance audit on misdemeanor probation operations. Report No. 12-06. Page 27 of 73.
[10] GBPI analysis of 5-year American Community Survey data sets from 2019 to 2022.
[11] Khalfani, R. (2022 December 6). Regressive revenue perpetuates poverty: Why Georgia’s fines and fees need immediate reform. Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. https://gbpi.org/regressive-revenue-perpetuates-poverty-why-georgias-fines-and-fees-need-immediate-reform/
[12] GBPI analysis of 2023 local finance data from GA Department of Community Affairs.
[13] Albin-Lackey, C. (2014 April July). Profiting from probation: America’s offender-funded probation industry. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/us0214_ForUpload_0.pdf
[14] Ibid. (pp. 27-28)
[15] Khalfani, R. (2024, September 10). Fact Sheet: Unpacking the latest fines and fees trends across Georgia. Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. https://gbpi.org/fact-sheet-unpacking-the-latest-fines-and-fees-trends-across-georgia/?_gl=1*1qgvw6b*_up*MQ..*_ga*MjA0Mzg2MzM5My4xNzI2MTQ2OTky*_ga_ZWZC5HZ1YJ*MTcyNjE0Njk5Mi4xLjAuMTcyNjE0Njk5Mi4wLjAuMA..
[16] Young, A. (2018 November 13). How Georgia’s probation system squeezes the poor and feeds mass incarceration. American Civil Liberties Union. https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/how-georgias-probation-system-squeezes-poor-and-feeds-mass-incarceration
[17] Huebner, B., Shannon, S. (2022). Private probation costs, compliance, and the proportionality of punishment: Evidence from Georgia and Missouri. Russell Sage Foundation.
[18] 2022 to 2024 monthly jail reports from Georgia Sheriff’s Association. https://georgiasheriffs.org/jail-report/
[19] Bannon, A., Nagrecha, M., Diller, R. (2010). Criminal Justice Debt : A Barrier to Reentry. Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/criminal-justice-debt-barrier-reentry
