PA Supreme Court Orders Release of Maurice Hudson; REFORM Alliance Applauds Move, Pushes New Law

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Nov 22, 2019, 12:27 ET

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the release of a man who had been jailed for up to three years for no other reason than his inability to pay his court costs.

In February of 2019, Judge Genece Brinkley sentenced Maurice Hudson to 18-36 months in prison because he could not afford to pay $1,941 in court fees. Hudson has been crime-free for over a decade. His reincarceration tore him away from his job and his family, leaving his wife alone and struggling to care for his two daughters with special needs.

REFORM Alliance issued the following statement on Friday:

REFORM Alliance applauds the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for ordering the release of Maurice Hudson. Being poor is not a crime. Judge Brinkley should never have sent Mr. Hudson, the father of special needs kids, to prison just because he could not afford to pay $1,941 in fees. Unfortunately, Mr. Hudson is not alone. Pennsylvania has the third highest percentage of its population under community supervision in the country. Many people who are not committing new crimes end up back in prison — just because they don't have enough money to pay fines or fees. This is why we urge the Pennsylvania legislature to quickly pass Smart Probation Reform SB14 and HB1555. We need legislation to put an end to these abuses. And we invite all people of conscience to join us at reformalliance.com.

If the Smart Probation legislation currently under consideration in Pennsylvania (HB1555 and SB14) were law, it would have prevented Mr. Hudson from going through this ordeal by:

Creating reasonable limits on supervision time (5 years for felonies; 3 years for misdemeanors)
Preventing extension of supervision or reincarceration solely because someone is unable to pay probation-related fines or fees
Requiring the court and probation officer explicitly look at family and childcare responsibilities in addition to fines and fees while evaluating their ability to pay and compliance with probation conditions
Implementing an incentive-based system, such as earned time credit, which could have rewarded Maurice with a reduced probation sentence for achievements and good behavior while under supervision

These bipartisan bills are co-sponsored by Rep. Sheryl Delozier and Rep. Jordan Harris in the Pennsylvania House, and Sen. Anthony Williams and Sen. Camera Bartolotta in the Pennsylvania Senate.

Cases like Hudson's are all too common. Across Pennsylvania, people are sent to prison at an alarming rate for non-crime "technical violations." Such technical violations include: being too poor to afford probation fees, crossing county lines without permission, and missing arbitrary curfews.

Excessive probation violations have resulted in Pennsylvania having the nation's third-highest percentage of its population on probation. The commonwealth wastes an estimated $101 million on incarceration for technical violations alone.

"This judge needs to go, and the bad laws that make these abuses possible also need to go," REFORM CEO Van Jones said. "Outrages like this will continue to happen until Pennsylvania passes Smart Probation Reform."

"I'm grateful that he'll get to be home and spend Thanksgiving with his family," REFORM cofounder Michael Rubin said. "Maurice is another example of why we need to change the probation laws in Pennsylvania – so you can't go to prison when you don't commit a crime!"

In response to the ruling, a coalition of organizations (FAMM, Americans for Prosperity Pennsylvania, REFORM Alliance, Just Leadership USA, and the ACLU of Pennsylvania) said the following in a joint statement pressing the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass legislation to reform probation practices:

“Probation reform is not about politics, but public safety, smart use of taxpayer resources, and the simple understanding that a mistake does not define our value as people. The proposed reforms in Senate Bill 14 and House Bill 1555 have broad support from stakeholders and legislators, and we are hopeful that the Pennsylvania General Assembly will act to advance probation reform through the legislative process. Our communities cannot wait any longer.”

REFORM Alliance is a part of a broad bipartisan coalition that is working for probation reform in Pennsylvania. The many groups engaged in this coalition include:

JustLeadershipUSA
ACLU Pennsylvania
FAMM
Americans for Prosperity Pennsylvania
American Conservative Union
Commonwealth Foundation
Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Color of Change
Law Enforcement Action Partnership
Patrick K. Nightingale
Pennsylvania Prison Society
Justice Action Network
Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce
1Hood
Goldring Reentry Initiative
Sankofa Healing Studio
R Street Institute
Center for Employment Opportunities
Amistad Law Project
FreedomWorks
Realistic ReEntry

About REFORM Alliance

The REFORM Alliance is committed to advancing criminal justice reform and eradicating laws and policies that perpetuate injustice in the United States. To achieve that objective, REFORM will pass probation reform bills at the state level, use media to amplify the need for comprehensive reform and build an inclusive, bipartisan alliance of leaders who share a vision for ambitiously and efficiently transforming the criminal justice system. CNN host, author, and activist Van Jones is the CEO of REFORM.

REFORM's founding partners include (in alphabetical order):