Monday, March 03, 2008

Wisconsin is Tough on Lawbreakers

Woman Jailed For Failing To Return Books - News Story - WISC Madison: "BELOIT, Wis. -- In Beloit, failing to return overdue library books is apparently a serious offense. It landed Keely Givhan behind bars for six days.

Beloit Public Library director Dan Zack said when books aren't returned, the library sends three overdue notices. After the third notice, a citation is sent that could include court date.

Givhan said she was in the process of moving so she never got the notices.

When a police officer pulled her over for a traffic violation in November, the officer found out about her outstanding warrant and took her to jail.

She and her family couldn't afford to pay her fine so she remained in jail for six days."

7 comments:

Jess Nevins said...

As a librarian I of course support this action wholeheartedly.

Unknown said...

And who can blame you?

Anonymous said...

My wife told me about this after reading the story in the Madison, WI morning paper. Ha, ha.

Anonymous said...

The district library my mom works at is constantly having to replace books and especially videos that never get returned. Our local jail would be full with the scofflaws.

Anonymous said...

Don't do the crime if you can't pay the time.

Cap'n Bob said...

This may herald a whole new Janes in Jail subgenre. And I'm also reminded of Mr. Bookman the library cop on Seinfeld. A great episode.

Anonymous said...

We had a similar case in Montreal a few years ago. The culprit's stated profession was translator. He hadn't paid the fine and refused to do community service in lieu.