No Car Insurance = Court = Big Fine = Jail for Poor People

Some may think I am going to extremes here but this actually happened to me in 2000 in Coosa Co. Alabama in the little town of Goodwater.

I was just weeks out of Hillcrest Hospital for treatment of severe depression after losing my three month old son to SIDS. I was driving through Goodwater when a cop pulled me over. I had no idea what for. My tag was current, I wasn't speeding or doing anything illegal that I was aware of. It turns out that the year sticker on my tag was missing. I guess someone stole it because those things do not just fall off by themselves.

He asked for insurance and I told him I didn't have any so he wrote me a ticket. He said that if I got insurance before my court date that the judge would likely throw it out. I went that very day and got insurance. I had to borrow the money from my mom.

When my court date rolled around my husband happened to be home from his OTR driving job and was able to go with me and handle our daughter as we had no baby sitter. In the courtroom two elderly black men were talking amongst themselves and one of them said..."They building a new jail and need money. Anybody that ain't got money for the fines today will go to jail." I didn't think that would happen. In my then very limited experiences with the court it always seemed that a judge would allow you to make payments. I also was under the impression that he would throw out my case because I had gotten insurance since the ticket.

That ain't quite what happened.

The Judge was the old Judge Teel and he was an absolute bastard to everyone who went before him. Everyone who had the money to pay the fine which was $746 was allowed to pay it and leave. Everyone who did not have the money for the fine was made to sit against the courtroom wall on the left side.

I went before him, took out my proof of insurance and handed it to him. He asked me if I had insurance when I was stopped and I told him no but that I had gotten it that very day and the officer had told me it likely be thrown out. He yelled at me that he didn't care when I got it only that I didn't have it when stopped, imposed a $746 fine and told me to go sit down along the wall.

At that particular time in my life I was prone to serious panic attacks. Full blown ones complete with numb lips and hyperventilation. The prescribed medication was Xanax but I didn't carry it around with me everywhere I went. I started to shake and my breathing was rapid. I knew I was about to have a major episode. My husband was looking across the courtroom at me very scared and worried. My daughter kept saying, "Mama" because she was three at the time and did not understand what was happeneing.

Pretty soon two officers told everyone sitting along the wall to get up and follow them downstairs to the jail. As soon as I made it across the courtroom the panic attack bloomed full force. I was hyperventilating, my face was numb, I collapsed to the floor gasping for air and asked for an ambulance. It was the worst panic attack I had ever had and my heart was beating so fast I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

The judge yelled from his throne, "What's matter with that gal?" Someone responded that I needed medical attention. "Naw she don't git'er off the floor." Then he addressed me, "What's gone make you quit doin at?" I eeked out between gasps of air that felt like I was breathing it through a straw, "Not going to jail." He was not pleased with my honest answer and again directed the officers to get me out of there. Two officers tried to get me on my feet but sat me in a chair instead. It was pretty clear to them that this wasn't some sort of prank.

A lady named Dawn Abrams, who was the judge's assistant that day, came over to me and asked me what I took for painc attacks. She explained that she had them as well and was very sympathetic to my current plight. I told her xanax but that I didn't have any. She told me to go on down to the jail and she would go and try to talk to the judge.

So, I went downstaris into a small, filthy, crammed, concrete hole with three cells, one bathroom that consisted of a toilet and a sink with no privacy and was for communal use. I was strip searched in the fucking kitchen and locked in the trustees cell as no other one was available.

I asked for a paper bag to stop the hyperventilation but was denied. Ms. Abrams came down a few minutes later and asked me how long I had had these attacks. I explained that my baby had recently died a SIDS death and that I had only been released from the hospital for treatment for shock, PTSD and severe depression a couple of weeks prior to this. She asked me if we had the money to pay the fine or anyone we could call to get it and I told her no. My husband was driving a truck long distance and it took everything we made just to stay afloat. She said she had tried to talk to the judge but he refused to show any mercy. She told me that my husband had also tried to talk to him and explain that I was a stay-at-home mother and he was a long distance truck driver and that he would lose his job, our only source of income right then if I couldn't be home to take care of the kids. The judge said to him, "So, you're telling me that you need the government to take care of your children for you?" My husband just turned and walked away before something really nasty happened.

Ms. Abrams then said,"I'll be right back. I am going to get you out of here." I didn't know what she was planning and didn't care because all I wanted was OUT! About 10 minutes later she came back and told the guard to open my cell and let me go.

It turns out that she paid the $746 from her own pocket. This was a lady I had never met before, who had some sympathy for my terrible situation and was willing to spend her own hard earned money on a complete stranger. I am not sure I have ever been more grateful in my life as I was that day. I told her I would pay her back and she said not to worry about that.

But, I did pay her back. She was an angel.

I don't know how often judges act in the manner that this one did. Hopefully not too often and preferably not at all. This judge is gone now. I don't know if he is retired or dead. I hope he is dead. I'd like to shit on his grave. His son is now the judge in his place....which is why I avoid driving through Goodwater, AL at all costs even when I have insurance and the sticker on my car tag. However, having spent the last five years of my life in court I am now prepared to really fuck up any judge who dares to treat me or anyone else in that manner again.

So, because of this retarded car insurance law poor people wind up in jail. This is insanity at its finest.