The Alexander City City Council voted Monday night to accept a mediation settlement of a class action lawsuit that was filed as a result of a now abandoned city policy that jailed people convicted of some crimes when they didn’t have the ability to pay all of their fines immediately.

A federal class action lawsuit filed in September of last year by the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center alleged that Alexander City “has maintained a modem-day debtors’ prison” that targets the poor, keeping residents in jail because they are unable to immediately pay fines and court costs.