County jails and state prisons across the country charge individuals serving time the supposed costs of incarceration. The laws authorizing these practices, referred to as "pay-to-stay," have been subjected to little scrutiny by the courts and the public. But pay-to-stay fees threaten to entrap those subjected to the criminal system in substantial debt they will never be able to pay off. More advocacy around this issue is needed to elevate the stories of those who have been impacted and turn the tide of public opinion against these practices. Because legal aid attorneys and public defenders are often in the best position to encounter these fees--as part of sentencing or a civil collection action--they play a crucial role in challenging the practices surrounding their imposition and collection.
This session will focus on combatting pay-to-stay fees through affirmative litigation and challenging such fees when they are imposed as part of a criminal sentence. Using examples of litigation filed in Connecticut and Iowa, the panelists will discuss the litigation strategies that have been used to challenge the collection of fees. As pay-to-stay is often imposed as part of a criminal sentence, the panelists will also discuss potential defenses to its imposition, most notably the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment, which is an under-utilized tool for combatting such fines. There will also be a discussion on the real harms caused by pay-to-stay, which will approach the topic from a litigation standpoint and may also discuss academic perspectives, depending on the availability of panelists.
- Implement litigation strategies to affirmatively challenge the imposition and collection of pay-to-stay fees.
- Raise defenses to the imposition of pay-to-stay fees for clients who have been subjected to such fees as a part of their criminal sentence.
- Explain and understand the Excessive Fines Clause as a tool for challenging pay-to-stay and other fees
Charles Moore
Staff Attorney
Public Justice
Charles Moore is a staff attorney with the Debtors’ Prison Project. He is based in the Washington, DC office of Public Justice. Charles's work focuses on challenging the criminalization of poverty. He has served as lead counsel in a case challenging vehicle impound practices and is currently litigating a challenge to one county's practices of collecting pay-to-stay fees in Iowa. Charles is also co-counsel in matters challenging the elimination of in-person visits in Michigan county jails and he also supports Public Justice's litigation efforts fighting against money bail in Los Angeles.
Before joining Public Justice, Charles had experience both in civil litigation and criminal defense in multiple roles. Immediately prior to joining Public Justice, Charles was a public defender in the State of Maryland.
Elana Bildner, n/a
Senior Staff Attorney
ACLU of Connecticut
Elana Bildner joined the ACLU of Connecticut in 2019 and advances the organization's mission through litigation. Elana has spent significant time advocating and litigating for the rights of immigrants, people who are or were incarcerated, and families. Most recently, Elana was a senior clinical fellow with the Civil Justice Clinic at Quinnipiac University School of Law. There, she focused on ending long prison sentences imposed on children. She also guided law students representing young adults in parole hearings and in civil rights lawsuits challenging prison mistreatment. Prior to her time at Quinnipiac, Elana spent six years as a civil litigator at large law firms in New York and Connecticut. Elana received her law degree from Columbia Law School, where she was a teaching assistant, Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, and an executive editor of the Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual. Before her legal career, Elana worked with anti-poverty organizations in New York through an AmeriCorps fellowship.
William Maurer, JD
Managing Attorney Washington Office
Institute for Justice
William R. Maurer is the Managing Attorney of the Washington state office of the Institute for Justice.
Maurer is the head of IJ's efforts to battle the abuse of fines and fees and he litigates and advocates across against the criminalization of poverty. He regularly speaks and writes about the use of fines and fees in the criminal justice system and participated in summits on the topic convened by the White House and Department of Justice. He is also an advisory board member of the Fines and Fees Justice Center.
His cases and advocacy have been covered in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and other major media outlets.
Maurer was named a “Washington Superlawyer” by Washington Law & Politics Magazine and is an author of chapters in a number of legal reference works.
Prior to joining IJ-WA, Maurer clerked for Washington Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders and practiced law at Perkins Coie LLP. Maurer received his law degree in 1994 from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he was an editor of the Wisconsin Law Review. He received his BA from Bard College in 1989.
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