In Germany, at least 8,000 people go to jail each year for failing to pay public transit tickets. The relevant part of the criminal code was introduced under the Nazis — yet is still routinely used to imprison mostly poor non-payers.

Between eight and nine thousand: this is the rough number of people who go to jail in Germany each year for failing to pay a public transportation ticket. Once discovered, passengers are asked to pay a fine, which normally amounts to €60 ($70). Those who can’t pay and see the fines build up face a prison sentence of up to one year. Unsurprisingly, it is mainly the poor who end up in jail. According to the Freiheitsfonds (Freedom Fund), which campaigns in favor of those incarcerated for fare evasion, 87 percent are unemployed, 15 percent do not have a home, an

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