If this isn't a perfect illustration of everything that's wrong with this country, then I must be a monkey's uncle:
Los Angeles County has paid private lawyers nearly $13,000 to pursue $1,004 in debt owed by a Compton woman for time her 16-year-old granddaughter was held in a juvenile probation camp, officials acknowledged today.
The debt was still being pursued this week, county counsel said, despite a moratorium on such billing declared last month. The moratorium was called by probation chief Robert Taylor after The Times and children’s advocates raised serious questions about his department’s billing practices.