100s in German jails for not buying a ticket.Credit: Freepik.
The Berlin Freiheitsfonds (Freedom Fund) initiative has managed to secure the release of 15 convicts in Berlin, incarcerated for failing to pay public transport fines.
The German group fundraised and paid €3,400 in cash at Plötzensee prison to free the individuals, who faced jail time due to unpaid penalties for fare-dodging on public transport. The action, part of a broader campaign, brings to the forefront the contentious issue of criminalising “Schwarzfahren” (riding public transport without a ticket) under Germany’s Paragraph 265a, a law dating back to 1935 (yes, then).
The initiative, which has now freed 1,288 people nationwide with over €1 million in donations, argues that jailing people for minor transport offences disproportionately punishes the poor. Among those released was a man at risk of losing his apartment due to a sentence exceeding six months, a threshold beyond which social services stop covering rent.
Advocates note that annual enforcement costs taxpayers around €120 million, while a single prison day costs €200, way more than the price of a bus ticket.
Charity group founder calls imprisoning fare-dodgers ‘absurd’
Freiheitsfonds founder Arne Semsrott called the situation ‘absurd,’ urging the incoming government to scrap the law in coalition talks. Critics, including researchers, argue that the policy, rooted in Nazi-era legislation, traps vulnerable groups, many of whom are unemployed or homeless, in a cycle of punishment. Nationwide, an estimated 9,000 people face jail yearly for similar minor offences.
Berlin’s latest ‘Freedom Day’ shows there is growing public instance on reform. While some cities like Düsseldorf have already decriminalised fare-dodging on local level, federal reform lags behind. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann has proposed reclassifying it as an administrative offence, but activists demand full abolition now for the persistent risks of arrest for non-payment. As public transport fares rise, the debate intensifies over whether access to mobility should remain a privilege or become a basic right.
And, if you were thinking that this kind of punishment was unique to Germany, just remember that the vast majority of women in British prisons are serving time for issues relating to non-payment of TV licence fees.
