Read more about this story by Sam Stockard in The Post: HERE
Rodriguez, a disabled mother of two, depends on Social Security disability to survive and lives in constant pain, taking medication for back and neck surgery.
She also deals with the fear of being put in jail if she fails to pay court and probation costs for a misdemeanor, according to a federal lawsuit against Rutherford County and Providence Community Correction.
Rodriguez, 51, was arrested in 2014 for shoplifting at a grocery store and was told by a district attorney her case would be dismissed and her record kept clean if she complied with probation and paid court debts. If she couldn't pay, she would be prosecuted.
After being placed on probation for 11 months and 29 days she was forced to sign a list of standard "probation conditions," including taking drug tests in unsanitary conditions, then threatened to have her probation "violated" for nonpayment or jailed.
When she didn't bring money to one meeting, a PCC supervisor told here, "one more time of this bull----, and I'm gonna violate you. You'll spend seven days in jail," the lawsuit states.
Rodriguez, one of seven plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed by Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Equal Justice Under Law, heard another probationer talking about the possibility of seeking an indigence waiver, but when she brought it up with her parole officer, she was told it "too late in the game now."
"During the course of her probation supervision by PCC, Inc., PCC Inc.'s threats were effective in extorting Ms. Rodriguez to forgo basic necessities to make payments to the company because she feared arrest and revocation. In fact, Ms. Rodriguez even directed her disability benefits - her sole source of income - to PCC, Inc," the lawsuit states.
In addition to the county and PCC, the lawsuit names PCC employees Jasmine Jackson, Briana Woodlee,Amanda Roberts, Tiara Smith, Kelly Haley, Amanda Schexnayder, Kayla Banks, Nisha Hyde and Kelly McCall, who work as "probation officers" for PCC at its West Main Street location in downtown Murfreesboro.
After nearly a year on probation with original court costs at $578, Rodriguez had paid nearly that entire amount to PCC but the company applied only $66 to her court costs, leaving her with debt of $512, the lawsuit states.
PCC issued a warrant for her arrest, and just before turning herself in at the jail, she passed out from a panic attack and broke her arm in three places when she fell.
"PCC, Inc. has instituted debt-collection and revocation practices as a private probation company that would be abhorrent if perpetrated by any public probation officer," the lawsuit states.
Read More Information on this story in The Post (Link Below):
READ THE DETAILS OF THE LAWSUIT IN THE POST NEWSPAPER - HERE.
