ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia's highest court ruled Monday that a state law allowing courts to contract with private probation companies to supervise misdemeanor offenders is constitutional but does not allow for additional requirements beyond what is imposed by the courts.
The Georgia Supreme Court was considering a case brought by a group of misdemeanor probationers in east Georgia who argued that Sentinel Offender Services and other private probation companies were illegally requiring electronic monitoring and extending sentences. The unanimous high court opinion partially affirmed and partially reversed lower-court rulings on the issue.
The Georgia Legislature in 2000 passed a law that transferred the supervision of misdemeanor probationers from the state Department of Corrections to the counties. Some counties then contracted with for-profit companies.
The probationers said in lawsuits that the law was allowing employees of private companies to act as officers of the court while having a duty to do what's best for their employers. That deprives the offenders of due process and allowed the imprisonment of those who couldn't pay their debt in violation of the state constitution, the probationers argued.
The probationers also argued that warrants obtained with the sworn testimony of Sentinel employees illegally extended sentences beyond the court-ordered term and that courts improperly ordered electronic monitoring at Sentinel's request leading to profits for the company.
"While the supervision of probation is a function historically performed by state probation officers, the mere act of privatizing these services does not violate due process," Chief Justice Hugh Thompson wrote in Monday's opinion.
It is up to the sentencing court to determine whether a defendant gets probation and the conditions for that probation, the opinion says.
Published: Tue, Nov 25, 2014
