VOP due to nonpayment of court costs

[FlaRiptide]

My 22 year old son received probation for credit card fraud (3rd degree felony). He is currently in jail due to violation of parole. He had been telling me that his probation officer was planning to violate him if he did not make payments to his court costs. My son had been looking for work, yet without a high school degree, no credentials of any kind, and with a felony record the chances of getting a job is slim. I've learned second hand that he recently failed his drug test and his excuse was that since he was being violated anyhow for the non-payment, he was upset and thus used the drugs.

He is now asking if I'm willing to make a payment towards his court costs.

I've three questions:

1) Would a probation officer indeed violate the probation due to non-payment of court costs? Total due is approximately $1,500. How is this possible since we don't send debtors to prison anymore in this society. How do they expect an indigent person to pay when that person has no money?

2) Would making a payment now make any difference? His court date is next week. I personally think he blew it by failing the drug test. I'm more curious about the non-payment situation. I cannot believe all that is told to me by my son and this non-payment violation just doesn't make any sense to me.

3) Someone else told me that court costs are reduced based upon the time spent in jail. Is this true?

 

[FlaRiptide]

Upon research I discovered the following which explains a lot, but if anyone else can add more info I'd appreciate it:

Constitutional law forbids jailing people solely over fees and fines they cannot pay, but Florida officials argue that, technically, they are jailing people because they violated court orders.

 

[sfitz]

You are right to point out the difference between US and FL law. This has been a minor issue in the news recently. There is widespread belief that there is no such thing as jail for debt. As you note, technically, this is true as the courts are only making a judgment regarding the amount of debt owed. However, creditors then have the authority to issue a capias with the local authorities--effectively a warrant for arrest. This undoubtedly varies by state--Massachusetts also has this process.

Your son's case is somewhat different since he was found guilty of fraud and probation officers have flexibility in reigning in parolees. Repaying the debt in a timely manner was obviously a condition of his parole. In any case it's not as simple as having a debt and being put in jail for it.