Sharnalle Mitchell was at her home in Montgomery, Alabama, one evening in January 2014, watching TV with her two young children, when police showed up and took her into custody. It seems she’d neglected to pay a traffic fine issued years before. Unable to make bail, Mitchell spent the night locked up, after which she was brought into court, where a judge informed her that, due to additional surcharges, she was now on the hook for several thousand dollars. She could either pay up or serve 58