On April 29, 2014, Governor Nathan Deal vetoed Georgia House Bill 837. HB 837, as proposed, would have further expanded Georgia’s already onerous private probation system for misdemeanor-level probationers.

In Georgia, private probation companies often contract with local counties and city governments to maintain probation services for citizens convicted of misdemeanors and low-level ordinance violations. These companies often charge high probation fees for their services, which makes the cost of being on probation unreasonably high for probationers.

If enacted, HB 837 would have made the costs and hurdles of successfully completing probation even higher. For example, the bill would have authorized the companies to require probationers to pay for ankle monitors during probation. Such monitors are extremely expensive and often largely unnecessary to monitor low-priority probationers convicted of, for example, traffic violations.

Most importantly though, HB 837 would have further exacerbated the underlying problem with Georgia’s private probation system: that for profit companies have a financial incentive to keep people on probation. Rather than focusing on rehabilitation and probationer well-being, private probation companies are in the business are charging exorbitant fees and keeping people on probation as long as possible so as to maximize profits.

Having dealt with private probation companies for several years, Davis and Jones acutely understand the problems the for-profit probation system creates for Georgia probationers and their communities. We applaud Gov. Deal for vetoing legislation that would have made a bad system even worse.

The full text of the proposed bill can be found here:

http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/display/20132014/HB/837