Man spends year in jail for not paying for a child that’s not his
Cook County Superior Court Judge Dane Perkins agreed Wednesday to release Frank Hatley, 50, from an Adel, Ga. jail after he spent one year locked up for failing to pay back child support for a child who is not his.
The Southern Center for Human Rights appeared in Cook County Superior Court early Wednesday to request Hatley’s release.
“State child support officials have shown extraordinarily poor judgment in Mr. Hatley’s case,” Sarah Geraghty, senior attorney at SCHR who is representing Hatley, said in a statement. “We call on the attorney general to investigate the Nashville Office of Child Support Services for its unreasonable conduct in this and other cases.”
Hatley entered Cook County Jail on June 25, 2008 for failure to reimburse the state of Georgia for public assistance paid for a young man. Hatley had made payments for this individual for twenty years but became unable to make the payments after being laid off.
Two separate paternity tests have shown that the young man, now 20 years old, is not Hatley’s son.
After the first test, Hatley petitioned the Cook County Superior Court in 2000 to be relieved of his child support obligations. The court granted his request, relieving him of his duties but still insisted he continue to pay overdue funds totaling $16,398.26 at a rate of $200 per month.
Hatley made substantial payments on this debt but could not continue to do so after he was laid off in early 2008. Though he became homeless and was living in his car, he continued to pay what he could with his unemployment benefits.
Nevertheless, Hatley was ordered to come to court for a contempt hearing on June 25, 2008. He could not afford to hire a lawyer and the court did not offer him one. After explaining that he lost his job and that he was paying all he could, the court made no further inquiry and placed Hatley in jail.
“Officials at the Nashville Office of Child Support Services have shown an excessive eagerness to incarcerate indigent people,” Geraghty said. “Not only did they ask the court to jail Mr. Hatley for no legitimate reason, they also caused taxpayers to shoulder the $10,000 burden of housing him for over a year.”
Hatley left jail at 1 p.m. Wednesday but his paternity case has not been resolved and he is set to go back to court at a later date.
Judge Perkins postponed deciding whether Hatley must repay more than $10,000 in child support the state says he owes but he does not have to make any monthly payments until that issue is settled, The Atlanta-Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.
The Adel News Tribune reported in February that there are 140 people in the Cook County Jail, which is licensed to hold 125 people. Of the 140 people, one-third (32 men and 13 women) are being held for child support at a cost of $25 per person per day.