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Karen Holloway just spent six hours in a jail cell for failing to maintain her yard in accordance with the standards set by the city.

The saga began last summer, when Holloway was sent a citation for her overgrown grass and shrubbery. Holloway, who works a full-time job and has two children living at home, a husband in school, and one family vehicle, admits the yard needed some attention but that it just wasn't feasible to do the work.

"The bushes and trees were overgrown. But that's certainly not a criminal offense," she says.

Last week, Judge Terry Vann handed down a five-day jail sentence to Holloway for refusing to comply with the city ordinances regarding yard maintenance, specifically the lack thereof. Holloway feels this was all just too much, saying, "It's not right. Why would you put me in jail with child molesters and people who've done real crimes, because I haven't maintained my yard."

In addition to the severity of the sentencing, Holloway say she also feels that she was bullied during the process because she was never read her rights or told that she could have a lawyer present.

This isn't the first time Holloway has been cited by the city. While her husband was serving in the military and deployed overseas, she was also sent a citation.

On Tuesday, when she stood in front of the court once more, her sentence was reduced to six hours. The judge admitted Holloway is not a criminal, and that this is not a criminal case — but she was still sentenced to jail. Holloway turned herself in Tuesday evening and served her six hours.

Neither the judge nor the police chief have responded with comments.

This is not the first time someone has been sentenced to jail because of the state of his or her property. Linda Ruggles of South Carolina was unable to pay the $500 fine for the loose shingles left on her roof after repairs stalled following the 2008 recession. She spent six days in jail.

As far as Karen Holloway, she's enlisted an army of friends and family to help keep her lawn shipshape. She'll be back in court for a follow-up hearing in November to check on the progress. The judge says he could add more jail time if the city isn't satisfied with her cleanup.

Tell us what you think about this story in the comments below. Have you or your neighbors ever been cited for not complying with city ordinances? Do you think the punishment was extreme?

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I honestly think this is a bit bullshit. I understand they want the yard to stay nice and neat..blah blah but with her schedule and stuff it was nearly impossible. She could have hired someone or found a way to do it, yes. But jail time over this is bullshit.

My sister and her husband lived on base when he was in the military, she was a high risk pregnancy and on bed rest and they bullied her to cut the grass and stuff while her husband was working crazy hours and shifts. That is straight up bullshit. You are more worried about grass then her and her unborn childs health and safety. Bullshit.

I don't know if she should have been jailed over this, in Indianapolis the city will mow your lawn if it gets too bad but then they charge you $500 each time that they do it. I understand why cities are so uptight over it though. Many people think that cities only care about the ugliness of unkept grass. But it is hazardous to have tall grass. Little kids can get lost in it, animals that are not wanted will make homes in it, people will use these locations as dumping grounds for stuff that they don't want to properly dispose of, and it lowers the property value of the homes in the neighborhood. Plus there are certain weeds that will grow that have deep roots and they will eventually spread to surrounding properties and ruin their yards. That actually happened to my grandma. Her neighbor didn't take care of his lawn and this weed started to grow, it eventually went into the surrounding neighbors yards. The roots fucked up my grandmas house foundation and it cost her over $10,000 to fix everything, all because he could not maintain his yard properly. Bottom line, if you cannot take care of your lawn, then either pay a neighborhood kid $10 to do it once a week for you, have family come and help you or move into an apartment or someplace where they have people who do the yard work.

Yes I agree, there are ways she could have found to get it done. I just think jail time is bullshit.

Jail time is just RIDICULOUS in this situation! We get citations too in this township if your grass is over 6 inches. They don't put you in jail though, you just start getting fines. I think eventually they'd take you to court over it though. I think someone was trying to make an example out of her and that's not right. I'd sue the shit out of them, especially for  not allowing her to have a lawyer present. HOWEVER, she really does need to try and make some time to just mow and weed wack. If her husband and her split the duty then it shouldn't take long.