nola.com – When poor defendants guilty of minor crimes enter Bogalusa Judge Robert Black’s courtroom, they are often met with no quarter, according to a federal lawsuit that accuses Black of running an illegal “modern-day debtors’ prison.”

It’s pay the fine or immediately begin jail time, with little room to negotiate for those who can’t afford to pay.

The Southern Poverty Law Center sued Black Tuesday (June 21) in federal court in New Orleans in an attempt to halt that policy, which its lawyers called unconstitutional. They’re representing four impoverished defendants worried they’ll run afoul of Black at their upcoming hearings.