Joseph Shapiro

Davontae Sanford spent nearly nine years in prison for crimes he never committed. But his release was almost stopped because of an unpaid bill he owed for his public defender.

The Colorado city and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado have announced a settlement that will end the practice. The city will even give payouts to people who were wrongly sent to jail.

The ACLU of Colorado last year discovered nearly 800 cases where people had gone to jail in Colorado Springs when they couldn't pay their tickets for minor violations. Most were homeless.

Imagine living in a cell smaller than a parking space or a king-size mattress. Now add a roommate. The result for some inmates forced to live together in solitary can be murder.

For the poor, a court fine — for a minor infraction like a traffic ticket — can be much more difficult to pay than for the rich. The White House brought together a group to talk about solutions.

Civil rights lawyers are challenging the use of court fines and fees against people who can't afford to pay. This week's ACLU suit against Biloxi, Miss., is the sixth such case since September.

After years of drug addiction, Jayne Fuentes feels she's close to getting her life back on track, as long as she doesn't get arrested again — but not for using drugs. She fears it will be because she still owes court fines and fees, including hundreds of dollars for her ...

A judge in Ferguson, Mo., has announced he will withdraw thousands of arrest warrants for unpaid traffic violations and other minor offenses. But it may be just a start on reform in St. Louis County and around the country.

To Haben Girma's grandmother, back in East Africa, it "seemed like magic." Her granddaughter, born deaf and blind, is a graduate of Harvard Law School and works as a civil rights attorney.

It's easy to understand why the grandmother feels that way. Years before, she had tried to find a ...

In Africa, in Asia, in Latin America, people with disabilities want to know: How can we learn from the Americans with Disabilities Act so we can get on the bus, get married, build a life.

Take a tour through New York and you'll see how the 25-year-old Americans with Disabilities Act is benefiting everyone.

Says one public defender: "The frightening thing about solitary is that when it erodes your ability to interact with other human beings, in turn that trauma is inflicted on your family members."

An investigation by NPR and The Marshall Project found that many states don't keep track of how many inmates are released directly from solitary confinement without any transition or supervision.

The Justice Department says police and courts in Ferguson, Mo., violated black residents' civil rights because officials saw them as a source of revenue. They were given excessive fines and fees.

Lawsuits filed in Ferguson and Jennings, Mo., seek justice for impoverished people who are jailed, sometimes for weeks, for not being able to pay what they owe the cities.

NPR got an advanced look at a civil rights lawsuit being filed that claims Ferguson, Mo., residents who can't afford to pay their court fines are illegally held in jail.

A new report on the growth of court fines and fees that are charged to often-impoverished offenders is focusing on another group that pays: their families.

Titled "When All Else Fails, Fining the Family," the study finds that impoverished people who go through the criminal justice system almost always ...

Massachusetts is one of a growing number of states that are putting new restrictions on the practice of restraining and secluding public school students.

The techniques — which have been blamed for harming students and in at least 20 deaths — were used more than 267,000 times in a recent ...

Losing your driver's license is a serious penalty, but often it's for nothing to do with unsafe driving. Without one, many who can't afford to pay the fines have a hard time finding or keeping a job.

Drive drunk or recklessly and the state can suspend your driver's license. But a number of officials worry that many suspensions are for lesser offenses, including unpaid tickets or even truancy.