Pay heed to warrant amnesty and save money, avoid jail

Since the City of College Station began our warrant amnesty/warrant roundup program in 2007, we’ve cleared more than 6,000 warrants valued at over $2 million. The first warrant amnesty period of 2018 for the City of College Station and Brazos County starts Monday and runs through March 2. If you have an outstanding warrant, you can avoid paying a $50 per case warrant fee if you pay the fine in full. It’s a much better option than going to jail. Continue reading Pay heed to warrant amnesty and save money, avoid jail

Municipal Court, Public Communications

Warrant amnesty can help you save money, avoid jail

Since the City of College Station began our warrant amnesty/warrant roundup program in 2007, we’ve cleared almost 6,000 warrants valued at close to $2 million. The fall warrant amnesty period for the City of College Station and Brazos County starts Monday and runs through Nov. 3. Continue reading Warrant amnesty can help you save money, avoid jail

Municipal Court, Public Communications

Warrant amnesty can help you save money, avoid jail

Since the City of College Station began our warrant amnesty/warrant roundup program in 2007, we’ve cleared about 5,500 warrants valued at more than $1.8 million. The spring warrant amnesty period for the City of College Station and Brazos County starts Monday and runs through March 3. Continue reading Warrant amnesty can help you save money, avoid jail

Municipal Court, Public Communications

Save money, avoid jail during fall warrant amnesty

The fall warrant amnesty period for the City of College Station and Brazos County starts today and runs through Nov. 4.

If you have an outstanding warrant, you can avoid paying a $50 per case warrant fee if you pay the fine in full.
Many cities do the roundup without offering amnesty, but we think the amnesty period is important because you can make restitution, save a little money, and avoid jail time. Continue reading Save money, avoid jail during fall warrant amnesty

Municipal Court, Public Communications

How Judge Spillane re-ignited a national dialogue on indigency and courts

College Station Municipal Court Judge Ed Spillane talks every year about how he doesn’t want to send anyone to jail. In this podcast edition, Judge Spillane explains the remarkable traction of his recent op-ed in The Washington Post. Continue reading How Judge Spillane re-ignited a national dialogue on indigency and courts

Municipal Court, Public Communications

Why Judge Spillane refuses to send people to jail for failure to pay fines

Editor’s Note: This op-ed first appeared in Sunday’s Washington Post. As of Monday afternoon, it had received more than 200,000 clicks on the Post’s website.

By Ed Spillane, Presiding Judge, College Station Municipal Court

Melissa J. showed up in my court last year with four kids in tow. Her children quietly watched from a nearby table while I spoke with her. The charges against her — driving with an invalid license, driving without insurance, not wearing a seat belt, failure to use a child safety seat properly and four failures to appear — were nothing unusual for municipal court. Nor were her fines of several thousand dollars.

But for Melissa, who had a low-paying job and a husband in prison, and who looked like she hadn’t slept in days, that number might as well have been several million.

As a municipal judge in College Station, I see 10 to 12 defendants each day who were arrested on fine-only charges: things like public intoxication, shoplifting, disorderly conduct and traffic offenses. Many of these people, like Melissa, have no money to pay their fines, let alone hire a lawyer.

What to do with these cases?

Continue reading “Why Judge Spillane refuses to send people to jail for failure to pay fines”