by Press | Sep 2, 2016 | Newsclips
A woman in Sherwood, Arkansas, just spent 35 days in a county jail after she accidentally bounced a $29 check five years ago. Nikki Petree was sentenced to jail last month by a judge accused of running a debtors’ prison. She had already been arrested at least seven...
by Press | Aug 29, 2016 | Newsclips
Nearly five years ago, Nikki Petree accidentally bounced a check for $28.93. Judge Milas “Butch” Hale ― the man behind a so-called “debtors’ prison” in Sherwood, Arkansas ― sentenced her to jail last month, even after she paid hundreds of dollars in court...
by Press | Aug 26, 2016 | Newsclips
This week, Robertson and several others in similar situations filed a lawsuit with the Arkansas Civil Liberties Union and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law against Sherwood’s “Hot Check Division” of the municipal court. The division has been...
by Press | Aug 24, 2016 | Newsclips
WASHINGTON ― Lee Robertson’s trouble began in late 2009, when he was undergoing his first stint of chemotherapy to battle the pancreatic cancer that had made it impossible for him to work. In the course of two weeks, Robertson wrote 11 checks at stores near his home...
