ACLU sues court officials in Pennsylvania, saying defendants are being overbilled
Updated Jan 06, 2021;
PHILADELPHIA (AP) The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania sued court officials in suburban Philadelphia on Tuesday, alleging thousands of defendants were overbilled for court costs.
State law allows courts to assess costs created by the Legislature that are used to fund the criminal justice system, but they should be billed only once per case, regardless of how many charges or counts a defendant faces, the ACLU says in the lawsuit filed in Montgomery County Commonwealth Court.
The ACLU, along with attorneys from Langer, Grogan & Diver and Seth Kreimer, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, asserts that defendants have been charged hundreds or thousands of dollars of duplicative fees per charge, instead of per case.
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Two advocacy groups called an Allegheny County court policy requiring the public to attend hearings in person even though proceedings are being held virtually “unlawful,” and threatened to file a federal lawsuit.
A letter sent Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law, is the third one to President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark since May.
Each letter has asked court administration to make criminal court proceedings available to the public either through live-streaming online or through a teleconference audio link.
Paula Reed Ward
Pa. Department of Corrections
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Jails and prisons across Pennsylvania are being overwhelmed by the spread of covid-19, and advocates for the incarcerated population fear it will get worse before it gets better.
As the numbers skyrocketed this week, the state Department of Corrections reported that a 77-year-old inmate with pre-existing conditions died on Thursday at the State Correctional Institution at Fayette a prison that currently has few cases. There have been 39 inmate deaths within the DOC since covid began.