A Pennsylvania woman who was serving a two-day jail sentence for failing to pay fines accrued by her children’s truancy was found dead in her cell over the weekend, inspiring the judge who sent her there to condemn the system that mandated her sentence.
Eileen DiNino, a 55-year-old mother of seven from Reading, Pennsylvania, was found dead in her cell on Saturday. She was in the midst of a 48-hour jail sentence that was meant to erase her $2,000 debt, which had built up since 1999 by her sons’ truancy from a vocational school, according to the Associated Press.
Police said the cause of death has yet to be determined, but the tragedy has already infuriated much of the community and the judge who sent DiNino to the Berks County jail.
“Did something happen? Was she scared to death?” said District Judge Dean Patton, who told reporters that he has been unable to sleep in the wake of her death yet had no other option under the law than to impose the sentence.
He said he sentenced her to 48 hours because a short time behind bars sometimes helps “break the habit” for parents who become comfortable with allowing their children to miss school or who fail to take them there. Truancy fines do not exceed $75 but can quickly add up as citations continue and court costs multiply.
Patton said DiNino was “a lost soul” who struggled to control her children and often missed scheduled court proceedings or showed up without the necessary documents.
“She cared about her kids, but her kids ruled the roost. She was just accepting what was coming, and (would) let the cards fall where they may,” he said. “This lady didn’t need to be there. We don’t do debtor’s prisons anymore. That went out 100 years ago.”
According to the Reading Eagle, over 1,600 people have been put in jail in Berks County due to truancy fines since 2000. Two-thirds of those detainees were women, with critics of the so-called habit-breaking policy blaming the language barrier that stands between the many Hispanic families in Reading and the various school districts.
“What you see is kind of a slice of inner-city life,” lawyer Ricahrd Guida, a veteran of a decade of truancy cases, told AP. “The people at home taking care of the children are mothers. Many times, they’re overwhelmed, and some of these kids are no angels.”
DeNino’s surviving family members told the Reading Eagle that her death has left them devastated – a feeling made more painful by the idea that her time in jail would be the end of a long chapter.
Instead of appearing in court in dirty clothing with unkempt hair, DiNino surrendered herself in a calm, controlled manner.
“She was a different person. She was cleaned up, smiling,” Judge Patton said. “I think she realized, when this thing is done, the weight was off her shoulders.”
My Fellow Americans:
So,… a mother of seven goes in for a 48 hour holding-cell stint instead of paying the courts extortion fee of $2,000,… and she suddenly,… and mysteriously ends up dead.
Uh-huh,… nothing wrong here folks,…. move along,… lets go,……. move along.
JD – US Marines – How long will it be before this gov’t starts killing Americans all over this country?,…. Opppssss,.. Oh yeah,… this Enemy-Force-In-Occupation is ALREADY killing Americans all over this country,.. everyday.
.
JD l enjoy your afternoon show very much and listen every day ,
but that comment you made yesterday about hitler killing tens of thousands of people before the war was totally BS, where did you get that info from AJ . He only defended his property from the Bolsheviks who murdered millions, the most demonized man in history, hey i’m not a white supremacist but just like the truth, the jews declared the war not hitler , who was no saint but hey look at all of our presidents since Washington, so please re think your statement
Hi MW,
Agreed.
Hitler, was actually defending Germany from the scourge of Zionist-Jewdom destroying it from within,.. as is happening right here, right now.
Although Hitler could be justified for many of the murders/assassinations that occured under his watch, the simple fact is,.. is also authorized the killing of many, many people. The exact number will not,.. can not be know as they are lost to annals of history, time and the intentional distortions that have been incorporated into the histories, especially by the Jews seeking to establish and maintain the “Victim-Status” they so much cheirsh and jealously guard.
As best that I can deduce from history, pictures, videos, eyewitness accounts and so forth,.. Hitler was actually pretty appalled by violence, and certainly had little stomach for the butchering that he witnessed sometimes.
I agree he has been horrifically mis-portrayed as an historical figure,.. but we can easily discern that he did allow for acts of destruction, both to property and the human life, that were pretty much unparalled in history,.. but he is far from the only responsible individual/party for the wanton crimes of WW2,.. in fact if I were to be allowed to select one particular group of people to assign blame to,… it would be the International Banksters, driven mostly (but not entirely) by Zionist-Jews.
JD
.
i agree 100% JD, thank you for your hard work.
Meanwhile all of the criminals in the federal government still walk free imposing more laws and more tyranny on the citizens at will. All the while telling the same citizens how much better things are getting as the police state grows in leaps and bounds. This will never end in a peaceful fashion and that’s exactly why the police state is growing and we hear more about citizen being killed! Call them hero’s if you want to but I’ll call them what they really are and that is paid whores better known as mercenaries!
So,, the judge felt bad, but sent her there anyway…..
bullshit.. they let the rich get away with murder all the time….
he had the final say and did NOT choose to do the right thing.
It’s nobodys business to butt in to personal family life over a kids truancy.
Good old detention and suspension was the ONLY appropriate route for
OUTSIDERS of the family…..PERIOD.
The laws, legal system, and idiots in uniform need to be removed permanently…. THEY have become deadly to the innocent.
Everyone buy a gun (or 4 )and defend your own….
Not only would that deter the criminals and clean up the country, it would
be a whole lot safer and save millions in wasted money spent PAYING and protecting the criminals in uniforms (and robes).
Guess we need the wild wild west to return so we can take care of ourselves once again, as it should be.
debtors prison
Seven kids, no dad. Truancy is less common in two parent families and in families without addiction issues. The truancy fines are nothing but revenue enhancement by financially and morally bankrupt government.
Next thing the kids will be placed in CPS and be come part of the child sex trade before they get their organs harvested.
Two big wrongs are easy divorce (the lawyers’ retirement fund because it was the ABA who pushed through no fault divorce) and Uncle Sugar paying for unwed mothers to have babies.
“Next thing the kids will be placed in CPS and be come part of the child sex trade before they get their organs harvested.”
I agree. The statutes that would separate this mother from her children were enacted for a reason, and now we see exactly what that reason is, and unless there are some very concerned relatives who will take them in, these children probably won’t be seen again by anyone in the neighborhood.
Unfrigginbelievable……is all I gotta say.
Language barrier, who says immigrants shouldn’t learn english before coming here, democrats do.