Despite the fact that debtors prisons have been outlawed for more than a century, it's still effectively a crime to be poor in our country. According to a stunning new report called “The Poor Get Prison,” the Justice System is being used as a weapon against the poor in municipalities all over our nation.

That study was co-authored by Karen Dolan and Jodi L. Carr on behalf of the Institute for Policy Studies, and it breaks down the various ways that Americans are being punished for being poor.

In addition to the obvious criminalization of poverty, like fining the homeless for being homeless, cities and counties throughout our country have set up a vicious cycle of charging exorbitant fees for small infractions and then jailing people who can't afford those fines.

By turning many petty crimes, like drinking from an open alcohol container, into civil infractions, cities and towns set the poor up to fail and end up behind bars. A $100 dollar ticket can easily turn into probation for failure to pay fines, which snowballs when probationers then fail to pay so-called “supervision fees,” and suddenly someone ends up in a modern-day debtors prison.

Not only is this whole process unconstitutional, it doesn't make a lick of sense. Throwing someone in jail over unpaid fines means that they can't work, and they can't make any money. It also means that instead of a $100 fine being lost to the city or county, taxpayers are now on the hook for the cost of putting someone behind bars.

In the introduction to “The Poor Get Prison” report, one of the authors wrote, “In the last ten years, it has become apparent that being poor is in itself a crime in many cities and counties, and that it is a crime punished by further impoverishment.”

Debtors prisons were outlawed long ago because they are inhumane and ineffective, and it's time to end the criminalization of poverty once and for all.

-Thom

(What do you think? Tell us here.)

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Justice for Freddie Gray? (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Be sure to check out our newest video: RESTORATION - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners / Visit GreenWorldRising.org to check out all the videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners

Bigger Picture Panel: Justice for Freddie Gray?
- Hilary Shelton, NAACP
- Joe Madison, The Joe Madison Show

Friday's Daily Stack

Hour One: If it's Friday, it's "Brunch With Bernie"... the honorable Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joins Thom with all the news from our nation's capitol and as always he'll be spending the hour taking your calls and answering your questions too...
Follow Bernie:

Article: "US wealth inequality - top 0.1% worth as much as the bottom 90%" by Angela Monaghan.

Article: "Bernie Sanders: GOP budget does not ask ultra-wealthy to contribute 'one penny' to deficit reduction" by Lauren Carroll (richest 14 Americans increased their net wealth by more than $157 billion).

Article: "House Passes Bill To Repeal Estate Tax" by Midori Nishida.

Case: "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (2010).

Site: 350.org

Article: "2016 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions".

Site: Bernie 2016

Speech: "First Inaugural Address", Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 4 March 1933. "In every dark hour of our national life, a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory."

Speech: "The Economic Bill of Rights" by FDR (second bill of rights) (audio).

Movie: "Capitalism: A Love Story".

Book: The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great by Harvey J. Kaye.

Article: "New study finds 45,000 deaths annually linked to lack of health coverage" by David Cecere, September 17, 2009 .

Article: "Sanders, Boozman Introduce 10 Million Solar Roofs Bill" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Article: "Bernie Sanders gets all important Occupy endorsement for President" by Kemberlee Kaye.

Article: "Six Baltimore cops charged in death of Gray, one with murder" by Scott Malone and Ian Simpson.

Article: "Baltimore prosecutor has deep ties to Boston" by Michael Levenson and Akilah Johnson.

Site: Killed By Police.

Article: "List of killings by law enforcement officers in the United Kingdom" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Baltimore Police Just Arrested Man Who Filmed The Freddie Gray Arrest" by .

Article: "Man Imprisoned After Filming Eric Garner’s Death, Refusing to Eat, Rat Poison Found in Jail Food" by John Vibes.

Book: The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Linda J. Bilmes.

Book: The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey.

Article: "12/4/07: December Democratic Tracking Poll" by Public Policy Polling.

Article: "1/05/07: 2008 Democratic Primary" by Public Policy Polling.

Article: "‘Mom of the year': Woman praised for smacking rioting son in Baltimore" by Dallas Franklin & KFOR-TV.

Book: "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America--and What We Can Do to Stop It" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Louisiana bills propose scaling back of solar tax credit" by Tom Kenning.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- James Cullum

Article: "Sheriff's report: Officer who pursued Freddie Gray was hospitalized in 2012 over mental health" by Jeff Horwitz, Juliet Linderman and Amanda Lee Myers.

Article: "Six Officers Charged In Death Of Freddie Grey" by Nicholas Salazar.

Article: "Listen: Jubiliation As Baltimore Officers Charged" by Justin Duckham.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Article: "TRNS News Notes – 5/1" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "TRNS News Notes 4/30" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "Supreme Court Upholds Fundraising Restriction on Judicial Elections" by Brent Kendall and Jess Bravin.

Article: "“YES” on King Amendment to Stop Davis-Bacon " by Heritage Action for America.

Article: "U.S. House Overwhelmingly Rejects Attack on Davis-Bacon Act" by PRNewswire.

Law: "Davis-Bacon Act", 1931.

Article: "Walking Just Two Minutes Each Hour Offsets the Health Hazards of Sitting" by Catherine Griffin.

Book: "Threshold: The Progressive Plan to Pull America Back from the Brink" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Fiat money" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Caral" by Wikipedia.

Article: "What I Did After Police Killed My Son: Ten years later, we in Wisconsin passed the nation’s first law calling for outside reviews." by Michael Bell.

Case: "Marbury v. Madison", 1803 (judicial review).

Case: "Dred Scott v. Sandford", 1857.

Article: "International Workers' Day" - 1 May.

Article: "Congress to propose bill raising US minimum wage to $12 by 2020" by Jana Kasperkevic.

Site: Fight for $15.

Monday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

We'll have the latest news and information...everything you need to know to win the water cooler wars...

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

Please support the Hunter School, a unique therapeutic boarding school for young children diagnosed with ADHD, Anxiety, Sensory, Mood and related conditions...

Have we seen justice for Freddie Gray?

Vote here!

Don't Underestimate Sen. Bernie Sanders!

Trade Treachery by Alan Grayson

Conversations w/Great Minds P1 - Tom Hayden - Why Cuba Matters

Conversations w/Great Minds P2 - Tom Hayden - What We’ve Learned From Vietnam

The Good, The Bad and the Very, Very Unasinously Ugly!

Full Show 4/30/15: A Real Progressive is Running for President!

Thom discusses how Bernie Sanders will impact the presidential race with attorney and radio host Mike Papantonio and Thom premieres Rep. Alan Grayson’s new nine minute anti-TPP video in its entirety. In tonight’s special Thursday edition of “Conversations with Great Minds” Thom talks with activist Tom Hayden, author of the new book “Listen, Yankee!: Why Cuba Matters.”

Bernie Sanders on True Freedom...

Caller: End of Times Republicans Don't Want Mideast Peace...

Baltimore Police Officers Charged in Freddie Gray Death...

Bernie Sanders: Why I'm Running for President...

Brunch with Bernie: May 1, 2015

Alan Grayson: TPP is Trade Treachery

Caller: Our Son will Vote Because of Bernie Sanders...

Conservatives Lying their way to Economic Power...

Right-Wing Media Twisting Truth on Baltimore...

Lessons From the Vietnam War...

Caller: It's Time to Lean on the Media...

Bernie Sanders is America!