Contempt and Jail Over an Unaffordable Court-Ordered DUI Program

Attorney Answer

You should not be jailed simply because you could not afford to pay — but you have to put that in front of the court yourself, in writing and under oath. Nobody will do it for you, and silence looks like refusal.

Mississippi has a statute directly on this. Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-20(2) provides that a defendant may be imprisoned until a fine is paid only where the defendant is financially able to pay and the court so finds, and that the defendant shall not be imprisoned if he is financially unable to pay and so states to the court in writing, under oath, after sentence is pronounced, and the court so finds. Two further things in that same subsection bear directly on your situation. It carries an exception: a defendant who is financially unable to pay but who failed or refused to comply with a prior sentence of the kind listed in subsection (1) — payment in installments, payment as a condition of probation, or ordered work on public property — may still be imprisoned, so how your original order was framed is worth establishing before you rely on the protection. And it caps the exposure: under (2)(a), in no event shall such a period of imprisonment exceed one day for each $100.00 of the fine. Read that carefully: the protection is real, and it is triggered by a sworn written statement from you.

On the program itself, Miss. Code Ann. § 63-11-30 requires the court, on a DUI conviction, to order attendance at and completion of the alcohol safety education program provided for in Miss. Code Ann. § 63-11-32, within six months of sentencing. That requirement is part of the criminal disposition rather than a separate civil bill — which is why non-completion came back at you as a contempt entry with jail days attached instead of as a debt.

What you can do

1. Do not ignore the entry. A line reading two days in jail is an order that can be executed the next time you are before the court or in contact with law enforcement. 2. Prepare a sworn written statement of your inability to pay: income, hours, dependants, benefits, rent, and what you can realistically pay per month. Sign it before a notary. 3. File it with the court that entered the contempt, and ask in the same filing for a hearing. 4. In that filing, ask for three specific things: that the contempt be purged, that you be permitted community service or a payment plan instead of immediate payment, and that the court set a new completion date for the program. 5. Ask the court to appoint counsel, since jail time is on the table. 6. Contact the program directly about scheduling and cost, and bring proof that you have enrolled or tried to. Demonstrated effort is what makes a sworn statement credible. 7. Bring documents to the hearing — pay records, benefit letters, bills. The statute requires the court to make a finding, and findings are made on evidence.

⏱ Time limits apply. Miss. Code Ann. § 63-11-30 requires completion of the § 63-11-32 program within six months of sentencing. If that window has already passed in your case, the answer is a motion, not silence — a court can address a missed requirement, but only when it is put before it. Exactly where you stand depends on your sentencing date and what has already been entered, so get your file from the clerk.