Colorado Springs will stop jailing people too poor to pay fines

The city also will repay the people it jailed for failing to pay fines.

The police officer has called for more 'alternative' thinking about how to deal with child sex offenders (Getty Images)

One Colorado man will receive $11,000 for being wrongly jailed after he was unable to pay court fines, and he won't be the only one to get reparations.

The city of Colorado Springs, Colorado has reached an agreement with that state's branch of the American Civil Liberties Union saying it will stop jailing people too poor to pay fines and it will repay those it illegally imprisoned for failure to pay, according to a report from NPR.

The ACLU found nearly 800 cases in Colorado Springs of people being jailed for being unable to pay minor court fines. Many of the people jailed were homeless, according to the civil rights group.

"The law is supposed to treat us equally," ACLU attorney Mark Silverstein told NPR.. "So when people with means can simply pay a fine and move on and then the poor people get sentenced to jail, because they're poor, that's a two-tiered system of justice that violates the principle of equal protection of the laws."

Colorado Springs agreed to reform its court system and pay people wrongly jailed $125 per night they spent behind bars. Shawn Hardman will get around $11,000 from the city after he spent 90 days in jail because he couldn't afford to pay fines. Another 65 people are set to be repaid.

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