Fines and fees resulting from misdemeanor traffic and probation violations has led the U.S. Justice Department to warn local courts about the emergence of so-called “debtors’ prisons.” “Individuals may confront escalating debt; face repeated, unnecessary incarceration for nonpayment despite posing no danger to the community; lose their jobs; and become trapped in cycles of poverty that can be nearly impossible to escape,” reads a Justice Department memo from March. A community meeting in Gainesville last week convened by the local Newtown Florist Club civil rights organization gathered Hall County judges, criminal defense attorneys, public defenders and law enforcement officials to define the issue locally and pointedly address where reform can be made.