The ACLU of Michigan is demanding the release of a woman in Escanaba, Michigan, who has been sentenced to jail because she cannot afford to pay the cost of her son’s stay in a juvenile facility. The organization is asking for an emergency court hearing on the matter.
 
After her son was sent to a juvenile facility, Edwina Nowlin was ordered to pay $104 a month for his incarceration. But Nowlin was homeless at the time after being laid off from her job. When she could not pay what was required she was held in contempt and sent to jail. This is only increasing her debt to the state, according to an ACLU press release:

Since March 3, 2009, Ms. Nowlin has been serving her sentence at the Delta County Jail. On March 6, 2009, she was released for one day to work. Once released she picked up her $178.53 check from work thinking that she now could pay the $104.00 to get out of jail. However, upon her return to jail that evening, the sheriff forced her to sign over her check to the jail to cover $120.00 for “room and board.” She was also charged $22 for a drug test and the booking fee.

The ACLU says this is a return to debtor’s prisons, which were done away with a century ago. You can read the motion filed in court asking for an emergency hearing here.