Deadbeat Mom Freed After 2 Years in Jail

A woman who was sent to prison without a trial for refusing to pay child support was freed by Rhode Island’s highest judge after more than two years behind bars. Maria Manuela Dickerson’s ordeal began when she refused to have $48 a week deducted from her paycheck toward support she owed for her teenage daughter and son. Ordinarily, civil contempt cases are reviewed monthly, but the Family Court judge ordered no such review. Chief Justice Joseph Weisberger, who ordered Dickerson’s release, said in Providence that he was not sure why there had been no review.