Woman dies in jail while serving sentence for her kids’ unpaid school fines

[Sagan]

A Pennsylvania woman died in a jail cell over the weekend while serving a 48-hour sentence for her children’s unpaid school fines. Eileen DiNino was found dead on Saturday in a Berks County jail cell where she was midway through the sentence that would have eliminated around $2,000 in fines and related court fees related to her children’s attendance at school. Police have said her death is not considered suspicious, but the cause has yet to be determined. She was 55 years old and a mother to seven children.

“This lady didn’t need to be there,” District Judge Dean Patton — who said he was “reluctant” to sentence DiNino — told the Associated Press. ”We don’t do debtors prisons anymore. That went out 100 years ago.” More than 1,600 people have been jailed in Berks County alone — the majority of them women — because of similar fines.

http://www.salon.com/2014/06/12/woma..._school_fines/

So this is what we're doing with poor people who can't pay their fines now?

[Otherside]

Huh, you'd just get sent to jail over here for not sending your kids to school. I don't know if you'd even get the fine.

[nothing]

Debtors prisons never went out, a lot of people in jail or prison are there because they can't afford to buy their way out; District Judge Dean Patton knows this to be true. Self-serving liar is what he is. This government is so corrupt, it's disgusting. I can't blame anyone who doesn't want their child indoctrinated into madness via the public school system, they should resist that passionately if they care about their children.

[Dark Knight]

I'm sure it's going to be swept under the rug and nothing really done about it.