Ersatzfreiheitsstrafe: Wie die Schweiz Armut bestraft | Meyer:Wermuth

Around half of all prison sentences in Switzerland are so-called substitute sentences – meaning people are in jail because they can't pay a fine or penalty. Those affected are almost exclusively people living in poverty, many of them for unpaid public transport fines. In this special episode of Meyer:Wermuth, we talk with Katja and Basil from the Swiss Freedom Fund about a system that punishes poverty with prison. Katja shares her own experience of how she ended up in a high-security prison – in handcuffs, treated like a hardened criminal – because of several small fines. Her story is representative of thousands of people who, due to missed mail because of homelessness, frequent moves because of housing shortages, or simply a lack of knowledge about their rights, get caught in a spiral of debt and punishment. We discuss why each day in jail costs many times the actual fine, why alternatives like community service often fail in practice, and why the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) refuses to engage in dialogue, while in Germany, 13 cities have already decided against filing criminal charges. And we ask the question: What does it say about our society when we imprison people instead of investing in them? 00:00 Welcome 03:05 Katja's experiences with imprisonment in lieu of fines 10:12 What effect do imprisonment in lieu of fines have on those affected? 16:12 Contact with public transport companies 19:50 What does this mean for society? 32:55 How do you deal with the societal pressure? 35:45 How and why was the Freedom Fund Switzerland launched? To the crowdfunding campaign: https://freiheitsfonds.ch/crowdfunding Freedom Fund: https://freiheitsfonds.ch/ Do you have feedback on the podcast or questions for us? Let us know in the comments! 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 Every Monday, Mattea Meyer and Cédric Wermuth provide insightful analysis of the most important political developments in Switzerland. Transparent, concise, and straight from Bern. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Rs4T6g... Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/me... Video RSS feed: https://www.sp-ps.ch/artikel-kanal/me... Audio RSS feed: https://anchor.fm/s/ab19f5f4/podcast/rss