In jail for 5 euros

Germany's fastest growing prison population.

Cannot pay a parking fine or were caught without a ticket on the subway, go directly to jail, do not pass "Go".

In Germany, the big trend in the last two decades has been putting people behind bars because they cannot pay even small fines.

In the state of Hessen,  the number of days in prison for misdemeanors was about 80 000 man days in 2005, and by 2011 the figure had gone up to 120 000 man days.

An unpaid parking ticket of 5 euros can get you a day in jail, at a cost of more than 100 euros per day to the government. Not counting all the costs associated with getting you through court and such.

In one jail in northern Germany, an astonishing one third (ca. 200) of a population of 600 is doing time for small fines. An increase from about 30 people at any given time 20 years ago.

Many of the incarcerated are old people, retirees with so little money that a 100 euro fine is too much to pay in one go.

Others, and this will sound familiar to our American readers, are homeless people and people stuck in the 10 or so years old bare bones welfare program the German government is so proud of.

The article we have linked to above is from 2012, and the trend is still pointing upwards.
 
But the Germans are now discovering community service, both as a way to save money and as a way to change behavior. The repeat offenders we read about were unanimous about German prisons: clean, good food, no hassle, like a hostel with bars on the windows.

We are looking forward to that American staple of a bunch of old guys in rather distinctive clothing picking up trash along the freeway.