FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact
Rebecca L. Gorley
(855) 724-2489 x1025
rgorley@archcitydefenders.org

Federal Judge issues ruling in favor of ArchCity Defenders case

against Ferguson
The road to victory looks promising for ArchCity Defenders' clients
November 23, 2016 (St. Louis, Mo.) - A federal judge in Saint Louis has issued a major ruling in
favor of ArchCity Defenders case against the City of Ferguson, which alleges a debtors prison
claim.
This latest ruling takes us one step toward making sure debtors prisons have no place in our
region and in modern society, said Thomas Harvey, Executive Director and Co-Founder of
ArchCity Defenders.
Since ArchCity Defenders and co-counsel partners filed the case, Fant v. Ferguson, in February
2015, the judge has forcefully rejected Ferguson's two attempts to have the case dismissed.
This ruling paves the way to a landmark trial to hold the City of Ferguson accountable for the
more than 6,000 people that they illegally caged when they and their families could not pay
small amounts of cash to the City.
This ruling comes on the heels of the landmark preliminary settlement which ends the debtors'
prison and money bail policies in Jennings, the town next to Ferguson, and secures $
4.75
million for nearly 2,000 people that had been wrongly jailed.
On December 14, 2016, Judge Jackson will hold the final approval hearing on the historic
Jennings debtors prison case to review and finalize the terms of the settlement.
ArchCity Defenders and Civil Rights Corps are working on both the Jennings and Ferguson
class actions with Saint Louis University School of Law Legal Clinics.
ArchCity Defenders, is a nonprofit civil rights law firm committed to providing holistic legal
advocacy and to combating the criminalization of poverty and state violence against poor people
and people of color.
###
On Twitter @archcitydefense
On Facebook as ArchCity Defenders, Inc.