Hello there, I'm Ed Butler.

Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC.

Coming up, the cost of US jail time.

We hear from some citizens stuck in prison for simple traffic violations.

I lost a job that I was about to go permanent on.

Bills was rolling in.

Bills got behind.

And at that time, I didn't have a job.

I just don't want it to happen again.

Today has simple bad economics we're asking turn the U.S.

into the world's most incarcerated population.

The best estimate is that on any given night, almost half a million people turn the US into the world's most incarcerated population.

The best estimate is that on any given night, almost half a million people go to sleep in jail cells across America who have not yet been convicted of anything.

That's Business Daily from the BBC.

For most of us who drive, a traffic violation simply means a pesky fine, maybe negative points on our driver's license.

For some poorer people in the US, though, it could mean time behind bars.

That's because since the global financial crisis, local and state governments have tried to make up for shortfalls in tax revenue by issuing more

fines, larger fines, often well beyond the means of those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

And if you can't afford to pay, you may well end up with jail time.

As Kim Gettleson reports from South Carolina.

On a warm spring Tuesday, I met Amy Marie Palacios at the Denny's Diner where she works

just outside Columbia. It's a new job for her and one that she's grateful to have.

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