Get Out of Jail, Inc.
Sarah Stillman on the private-probation industry, which offers alternatives to incarceration by charging small-time offenders ever-mounting fees.
Cleveland's weekly payments sometimes went solely to covering the company's "supervision" fee—leaving nothing for her fines. She stuffed towels in the holes in her walls to keep out the cold. When she couldn't pay, the for-profit probation company sent her back to court. The cycle was the business model.