Homeless Man, Jailed for Failing to Support Boy Who Wasn’t His, Is Freed

A homeless man has been freed after sitting in a South Georgia jail for more than a year for failing to pay the costs of supporting a boy who wasn’t his.

Frank Hatley won his freedom yesterday after a Georgia judge concluded he was indigent, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. “I thank God for this day,” Hatley told the newspaper. “It feels good being free.”

A 2001 order signed by Cook County Superior Court Judge Dane Perkins had required Hatley to reimburse the state for more than $16,000 in public assistance given to the boy, even though the judge acknowledged that Hatley was not the boy’s father, according to the story. Perkins determined that Hatley had signed a consent agreement with the state office of child support services, and he had to comply for the period that he believed the boy to be his, CNN reports.

Perkins made monthly payments totaling more than $6,000 before he lost his job and became homeless. Last year Perkins signed an order finding Hatley in contempt of court for missing the payments and sent him to jail.

Hatley was represented by Sarah Geraghty of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta. The case is one of “blatant unfairness,” she told CNN.