Kevin Thompson, a black teenager in Georgia, was jailed for five days in December 2014 because he could not afford to pay court-ordered fines and company fees related to a traffic ticket.

In January, the ACLU, the ACLU of Georgia, and the Southern Center for Human Rights filed a federal lawsuit against DeKalb County, Georgia, and for-profit company Judicial Correction Services Inc. on his behalf. Yesterday, less than two months after the filing, we reached a settlement that promises to prevent others from being improperly jailed for being poor in DeKalb County.