Bevis Schock has a philosophy of life that he sometimes applies to the law: “In a lawful and civilized society, you don’t kick ’em when they’re down.â€
That phrase appears in a motion Schock filed this week in the case of a man who fits that description. Daniel Wayne Wallace is down on his luck. He’s incarcerated at the Northeast Correctional Center in Bowling Green, serving a 12-year sentence for assault, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a firearm.
In January, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a civil lawsuit against Wallace, seeking to confiscate a $12,000 life insurance settlement Wallace received last year when his mom, Robin, died in a car accident. Bailey, a former general counsel for the Missouri Department of Corrections, has filed six such lawsuits this year under the auspices of the Missouri Incarceration Reimbursement Act. That’s a law the Missouri Legislature passed in the late 1980s allowing the attorney general to try to seize assets of state prisoners to pay for their incarceration.
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Several attorneys general, from Republican William Webster to Democrat Jay Nixon have used the law, known as MIRA, to seize funds from state inmates over the years, though the amount of money collected rarely amounts to much. Since 2018, the amount of money collected in the reimbursement fund ranges between $300,000 and $500,000 a year. Up to 20% of that money goes to the attorney general’s office, to defray the cost of collection.
Schock, a Clayton attorney, knows a lot about MIRA. That’s because not long ago he represented a couple of women in rural Missouri who were worried about avoiding the same fate as Wallace. The women had been illegally strip-searched by a male corrections officer in a county jail. Schock sued on their behalf and won a settlement. The women were in state prison by the time their proceeds came in. Schock knew that if he deposited the money in the women’s prison accounts, it would be subject to the MIRA law, and Bailey might try to seize it.
“I figured out that if they could give the money to a family member, the state couldn’t take their money,†Schock told me. “They did that.â€
Schock doesn’t think it’s reasonable for the government to take state detainees’ income to pay for prison costs that taxpayers already fund. “They can’t just take people’s property,†he says. “In our society, property is a fundamental right.â€
So, in March, after I wrote about three of the Missouri inmates that Bailey is suing — Wallace, Ronnie Pope, and Robert Rulo — Schock wrote the men in prison and asked if they wanted legal representation. Pope’s case is similar to Schock’s clients: He won a court settlement after being abused by a corrections officer in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Justice Center. Rulo, like Wallace, received a life insurance check after his mother died.
Wallace hired Schock. So did another man, Brian Owens, who was sued by Bailey in late March.
This week, Schock and another attorney, Dave Nelson of Belleville, filed motions in Wallace’s case seeking to get his money back and to declare MIRA unconstitutional.
“No set of circumstances exists under which the statute may be constitutionally applied,†the attorneys wrote in their filings, citing multiple violations of civil rights of defendants, including “Equal Protection, Excessive Fine, Unreasonable Seizure, Substantive Due Process.â€
Perhaps most egregious is how the act is applied right out of the gate when the lawsuits are filed. Defendants who are served are in prison, and most don’t have access to an attorney. Some, like Wallace, write the court and object.
“It is the only time I will receive any large amount of money ever,†Wallace wrote the court after being served with the papers. “I fully intend on fighting tooth and nail in court to stop this travesty of justice.â€
Under the MIRA statute, the burden of proof falls to the state prisoner, the defendant, unlike all other civil cases in which the plaintiff has the burden.
“That is completely unconstitutional,†Schock says. “I think that’s a fatal flaw.â€
Missouri is not alone in having such a law. In fact, every state in the nation except for Nevada and Connecticut has one, and more often than not, the laws are used to punish people already living in poverty, simply because they obtained a legal judgment or insurance proceeds. Florida’s law is so bad that it even allows the state to try to seize assets , even if they get out early on parole.
In Wallace’s case, a friend put $20 into his corrections account, so he could buy an item or two from the commissary. Bailey seized that, also.
Lisa Foster, co-director of the national nonprofit , says there’s been an uptick of the use of laws like MIRA, which has been used off and on in Missouri since 1990. Like Schock, she believes the laws are unconstitutional.
“Prison is not a Motel 6,†Foster says. “You shouldn’t be paying for the privilege of being locked up.â€
Bailey’s office has not yet responded to Schock’s filings. Wallace’s case is scheduled for a hearing in June. When he gets out of prison, Wallace hopes to become an electrician. But without the money his mother left him, he’ll have a difficult time getting started.
“If he can make that electrician job work, he’s far more likely to succeed as a member of the community,†Schock says. “Having a little money helps. It’s his money and he ought to have it to be able to try to make his life better.â€