Ohio Supreme Court on debtors’ prisons

  Responding to recent issues & allegations of the return of “debtors’ prisons” to the state and elsewhere in the nation, the Ohio Supreme Court has published a reference guide for judges and court personnel about the collection of fines and court costs.

   The Court’s news service Tuesday related that Supreme Court staff developed the  "bench card" in consultation with a workgroup that included Ohio Public Defender Tim Young and three experienced Ohio trial court judges: Lakewood Municipal Court Judge Patrick J. Carroll, Defiance Municipal Court Judge John T. Rohrs III, and Fairborn Municipal Court Judge Beth W. Root; and briefly explains the differences between court costs and fines, when enforcing fines by incarceration is appropriate, and the process for a court to substitute community service as payment for court costs. It also includes citations to state statutes and court cases.

View Bench Card