RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — After Virginia's legal system slapped Hassan Shabazz with over $4,000 in fees and fines, he attempted to pay off the debt during his over 23-year prison tenure on a salary of less than $.50 an hour.
At a press conference Wednesday, Shabazz described the financial hurdles for people recently released from incarceration.
"They're going to have to seek employment, they're going to have to seek housing and necessarily may be relocated," he said. "When that happens, there are a lot of obstacles that they face. And so absorbing court costs, fines and fees will help them upon their release be able to make a successful transition back into society."
It's a story advocates say is all too familiar in the commonwealth, where courts charge individuals appointed counsel hundreds to thousands of dollars in court fees if they're convicted, accept a plea bargain and even sometimes when the court dismisses the case.
"If you want to judge the civilization of a society, you must look into its prison," Shabazz said, paraphrasing Russian novelist Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky. "So what does that say about society if we are to treat the least of these this way?"
Democrats, with control of both chambers of the General Assembly, have been advancing legislation aimed at reforming court fees and fines.
Virginia lags behind other states in addressing the harms imposed by fines and fees, according to Mary Mergler, national advocacy and campaigns deputy director for the Fines & Fees Justice Center.
Despite being one of 25 states to outlaw debt-based license suspensions, Virginia judges can't waive fees for indigent people as they can in neighboring states like Kentucky, West Virginia and North Carolina. An estimated $192 million in fines and fees were brought last year against Virginians.
Delegate Rae Cousins introduced legislation that would have prohibited the collection of counsel fees for or public defender representation for persons determined to be indigent, which in Virginia means having an annual income of under $18,000.
"The elimination of these council fees, as proposed in Delegate Cousins's legislation, would provide great financial relief to Virginians and add the commonwealth to the growing list of states like Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Mississippi that prohibit fees assessed to people for exercising their constitutional right to counsel," Mergler said.
Committees severely narrowed down the original bill. In its current state, the bill would only cap the amount individuals can be charged in counsel fees at the current rate, keeping fees from increasing as lawmakers look to increase compensation for state-appointed counsel.
"My goal is still to work to eliminate those fees altogether," Cousins said. "But I think this is hopefully a good first step."
Other notable bills include efforts to decrease the statute of limitations for demanding court fees from 60 years for circuit court debt and 30 years for general district court debt to 10 years. The patron of the Senate version of the bill described the current system as a life sentence to poverty.
A measure from Delegate Phil Hernadez would codify federal anti-alienation laws that ensure social security income or benefits are exempt from collections. Hernadez said Virginia is taking social security payments from individuals to pay for court debt if it is their only form of income.
"Social security benefits are designed to be for the necessities of life, right? Food, housing, the money that you need to just exist in the world," Hernadez said. "The notion that the courts have not been following federal law is astounding."
Delegate Marcia Price seeks to allow incarcerated individuals' work in prison to count toward offsetting court debt. According to Price, work done by individuals who are paid $.12 to $.60 per hour at jobs that benefit the community should be treated as community service.
Delegate Michael Jones seeks transparency through his bill that would require, upon request, a court to provide an itemized receipt of their court fees. "This allows for greater transparency and an understanding of court costs and what needs, or should, be paid first," Jones said. "We should not have greater transparency at Jiffy Lube."
Republicans have voted against the measures, citing possible budget impact as a cause. Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin has not commented on which bills he would veto should they reach his desk.
"I think sometimes the other side of the aisle just sees the criminal," State Senator Angelia Williams Graves said. "And they look at everyone in jail as a criminal who does not deserve humane treatment."
Data provided by the Legal Aid Justice Center showed that between the fiscal years of 2019 and 2023, the courts imposed an average of over $34 million in court-appointed attorney fee debt. Despite the $34 million imposed, only an average of $12.7 million was collected into the state's general fund.
According to the data, courts only collected 3% of court fees the year they were assigned.
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