A service organization is facing two federal civil rights lawsuits for allegedly padding its budget by illegally extending probationary sentences for clients, reports the News Sentinel.
The East Tennessee Human Resources Agency Inc. is named in two lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of two former clients, Corey Lawrence and Zachary Zapata, both of Loudon County. The lawsuits make the same claim — to continue to collect supervision fees, ETHRA kept the pair on a legal leash long after their probationary sentences had expired.
ETHRA contracts with Loudon County to provide supervision of probationers involved in petty crimes. ETHRA earns $45 per month per probationer for its services. The agency also earns money by charging probationers for drug tests. The lawsuits allege ETHRA makes sure its fees are paid before applying probationers’ payments to court costs and fines.
A judge can legally extend an offender’s probation if he or she still owes court costs and fines, which boosts ETHRA’s collection of supervision fees. But the lawsuits allege the agency has gone one step further — lengthening an offender’s probationary period without legal authority.
“These practices are done in order to continue collecting past, current and future fees from individuals, including probation supervision fees owed to ETHRA,” the lawsuits state.
An attempt to reach an ETHRA representative was unsuccessful.
According to the lawsuits, probationers are threatened with arrest if they don’t sign an order extending their probationary period. The probationers are not given benefit of counsel, although most have lawyers assigned to their cases, or benefit of a hearing.