The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has filed a complaint against Alabama judge Marvin Wiggins, who ordered people unable to pay court fines and fees to pay in blood or face jail time.
"If you do not have any money and you don't want to go to jail, consider giving blood today and bring me your receipt back," Wiggins can be heard saying to a room full of defendants, who showed up for a hearing on the restitution, fines, court costs and fees they still owed on Sept. 17, according to CBS News. "Or the sheriff has enough handcuffs for those who do not have money," he added.
Wiggins gave the defendants an ultimatum: "If you don't have any money and you don't want to go to jail, as an option to pay it, you can give blood today."
The unusual bargain is against the law, as defendants cannot be put in jail over their inability to pay court debts, said the SPLC. The law center also said that a hearing needs to take place to determine whether a defendant has the financial capacity to afford the outstanding payments and that Alabama Law does not state that donating blood is an acceptable alternative form of payment.
In exchange for a pint of blood donated, defendants would receive a $100 credit against their debt and would be allowed to go free, The New York Times reported.
The Southern Poverty Law Center filed an ethics complaint against Judge Wiggins for his treatment of poor defendants. "In giving these orders, Judge Wiggins did not 'respect and comply with the law,' was not 'faithful to the law,' and did not demonstrate professional competence in the law," the complaint said.
Audio from Wiggins' announcement was recorded by one of the defendants present in the Perry County Courthouse that day. Listen below:
This isn't the first time that Wiggins has made news with his judicial decisions. He was reprimanded by the Alabama Court in 2009 and ordered to work without pay for 90 days because he failed to recuse himself during a voter fraud case involving three of his relatives.
Wiggins was removed from the Alabama State University board of trustees by Gov. Robert Bentley last year due to conflict-of-interest violations, according to AL.com.
