Switzerland’s prisons are filled not only with hardened criminals: those who don’t pay their fines for minor offences also end up in jail. So be warned.
Last year, 9,030 people were imprisoned in Switzerland. Of these, more than half (4,985) were incarcerated because they could not afford, or refused, to pay a fine – the so-called ‘alternative prison sentences.’
This can happen if a person was slapped with a monetary penalty for any of the wide range of mostly minor infractions – for instance, a traffic ticket, or not paying their bills despite numerous reminders.
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This is defined in the Article 36 of Swiss Criminal Code, which reads: “In the event that the offender fails to pay the monetary penalty and it is not recoverable through debt collection procedures, the offender shall serve a custodial sentence as the alternative to the monetary penalty.”
The duration of prison term is determined by the amount owed.
‘I lost four kilos’
One such example cited by Swiss media is Daniel, who was caught several times on public transportation without a valid ticket.
His fines had therefore piled up over time, but he refused to pay them.
In the end, Daniel spent 20 days behind the bars of Fribourg’s central prison.
Daniel’s explanation for not paying his fines was that he couldn’t afford to do so.
But some people actually choose jail time instead of paying.
This was the case with a man named Enrico Zanese, who was stopped by police because the tyres on his van were too bald to drive safely.
He was slapped with a 500-franc for the condition of his tyres and for mouthing off to police officers.
His official charge was “violation of road traffic law and causing a scandal on a public road.”
However, instead of paying, Zanese opted to spend eight days in a Geneva prison, a decision he may have regretted in the end.
“The food there was disgusting and I lost four kilos,” he said.
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Change could be on the way
Given the overcrowding of Swiss prisons, MP Jessica Jaccoud is seeking to abolish alternative sentences for fines of less than 5,000 francs.
That’s because these types of sentences “primarily affect people in precarious situations who are unable to pay, not hardened offenders,” she said.
Consequently, this system results in high costs – approximately 200 francs per day per prisoner – as well a great deal of bureaucracy, Jaccoud pointed out.
At he same time, “there is no real benefit to public safety,” she said. “Furthermore, there is no deterrent effect in this type of situation.”
READ ALSO: Why foreigners and poor people are more likely to end up in a Swiss prison
