Five Father’s Days in Jail for Deadbeat Dad
A judge has come up with a creative way to solve the deadbeat parent situation: he sentences dads to Father’s Days in jail for not paying child support. Moms who don’t pay up get consecutive Mother’s Days in the slammer.
Judge James Flannery of Warren County, Ohio, says jail overcrowding makes it hard for him to enforce lengthy sentences, so he came up with this alternative.
He just tested it out on one deadbeat dad who spent thirty-five days in jail after skipping out on more than $17,000 in child support and being brought back by U.S. Marshal’s to face sentencing. He will return to jail this June and for four more Father’s Days after, plus face five years probation.
Flannery told theMiddletown Journal, “Some people think of it as a gimmick, but I just try to say ‘focus on why you’re in jail today and why you don’t get to spend Father’s Day out of jail’ because you are not a very good father.”
Considering the parents get out of jail only to have to return again and again, it should have a lasting effect. But he’s right - it is kind of gimmicky. If a parent doesn’t care enough to pay up based on the ties that bind, will the significance of the day change anything?
Image: notsogoodphotography via flickr
More by this author:
-
Nanny Rents Out Kid to Beggars
-
Dad Turns in His Own Kid For Drugs
-
Women Shamed Outside Court for Stealing from Kid
Related Posts:- UK Relents on Father’s Name on Birth Certificate
- Michigan Law Keeps Biological Dads from Kids
- Kid Born 2 Years After Dad Dies Gets His SS
- Finish Line - Father’s Day And Stuff
- How to Behave During Public Tantrums
Tags: alternative punishments, child support, creative punishments, custody, deadbeat dads, deadbeat mom, Father's Day, Jeanne Sager, Mother's Day
3 Comments
Samsmomma commented on Nov 11 09 at 11:16 amI like this punishment. When i was in my early twenties I dated a few men who had fathered children that they rarely saw and didn’t always pay for (my bad taste in men was eventually resolved!). Despite their shortcomings, these guys ALWAYS saw themselves as wonderful dads. Putting these guys away for fathers day might make them take a closer look at whether they really deserve to think of themselves as good fathers.
brokemom commented on Jan 07 10 at 6:36 pmWhat about the fathers who have lost their jobs and child support will not lower their monthly payments? What about those fathers whose driver licenses have been suspended because they were laid off and can’t get another job because it requires a valid license? My husband is being treated like a criminal because we have no money. We are defaulting on all our credit cards and will have to give up our house, and the state wants to put him in jail because he cannot AFFORD his payment to his other children. I get it, every kid deserves the support from two parents. But when my husband is in jail because we have no money, what happens to OUR son?
Rebecca commented on Jan 31 10 at 6:59 pmBrokemom, how does a driver’s license get suspended because someone was laid off? Did you mean that his license got suspended and then he got laid off because of it?
