A dedicated team of Venable attorneys has spent the past 10 years working to ensure that some day no resident of one Arkansas county will be jailed simply because they cannot afford to pay court fines and fees. Partner AJ Lynn and associates Alexander Belman, Thomas Naatz, and Evan Suval have spent countless hours working on what has become known as the Arkansas Debtors' Prison Project.
The Baltimore-based team's involvement began 10 years ago when the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights approached Venable with concerns that the modern-day equivalents of debtors' prisons were operating in Arkansas. The Venable team was assigned to investigate conditions in Faulkner County.
"Within six months of beginning our work, it became very clear that the Lawyers' Committee's concerns were well founded," Lynn said.
What Is a Debtors' Prison?
In simple terms, a debtors' prison is a facility where people are incarcerated because they cannot pay their debts. Nearly 200 years ago, Congress banned the practice of locking people up because they could not pay back money they owed.
"Debtors' prisons are unconstitutional. There is no actual debate about that question," Suval said. "The question that we're facing now in looking at what's going on in Faulkner County—are the practices that we're seeing in the court system effectively amounting to a debtors' prison?"
The team's initial investigation uncovered a troubling pattern: individuals who lacked the financial means to pay relatively modest fines were repeatedly incarcerated, creating an endless cycle of debt, unemployment, and instability.
One client received a $75 seatbelt citation that ultimately spiraled into thousands of dollars in fines and repeated incarceration. Each arrest further compounded the client's inability to pay.
"He was incarcerated for 60 days. He lost his job. He lost his home. His license was suspended," Lynn said. "He had no idea how he would ever get out from under this cycle."
Addressing Systemic Failures
The team determined that the justice system was not merely failing to prevent this outcome. The courts were actively producing this result by continuing to issue fines to defendants who could not pay.
"Those fines are used to fund the court system and the process itself," Suval said. "So, there is an incentive to have the defendants rack up higher and higher fines."
Rather than pursuing a single lawsuit, the team recognized that lasting change would require a comprehensive strategy. Over the past decade, they have collected and analyzed years of court records and incarceration data, observed court proceedings, collaborated with federal, state, and local stakeholders, established coalitions, and worked alongside public defenders and community advocates. They also developed practical resources—including bench cards to help judges comply with constitutional requirements governing a defendant's ability to pay—that have already begun improving courtroom practices.
The work has demanded persistence. The team encountered years-long battles to obtain public records, political resistance, judicial immunity challenges, and the inherent difficulty of reaching individuals who had every reason to distrust the legal system. Still, they remained committed.
"This is not a project of quick victories," Belman said. "This has been a slow, slow-moving process. We've tried to go a lot of different routes."
Creating Lasting Change
The team's efforts are producing measurable results. According to Lynn, local partners have reported meaningful improvements in the number of people being incarcerated for unpaid fines and the length of time they spend behind bars.
Even with that progress, the work continues. The team remains focused on expanding constitutional protections in Arkansas courtrooms through continued litigation, advocacy, and collaboration with local stakeholders. Their objective remains unchanged: ensuring that poverty is never treated as a crime.
This sustained commitment earned the team the National Legal Aid & Defender Association's (NLADA) Beacon of Justice Award, which recognizes law firms addressing issues related to "Protecting Democracy and Civil Rights." The team also won Venable's prestigious Benjamin R. Civiletti Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year Team Award. The Civiletti Awards are held annually to honor members of the pro bono legal community who are tireless advocates for equal justice.
Accepting the Civiletti Award on behalf of the team, Lynn described the dedication needed to create lasting change.
"This required patience, optimism, creativity, and a lot of humility," Lynn told attendees at the awards ceremony. "This required a team that remained committed even when the next step was uncertain, and progress was slow and faced setbacks."
She concluded with a reminder of why the work matters.
"It's all too clear today that our legal rights are functional realities, not abstract principles. They determine whether poverty is treated as a circumstance or a crime, or whether someone sleeps at home or in a jail cell. So, while meaningful change is often slow, we're reminded that it's always worth pursuing."