Return of Debtors’ Prison: Debt Collectors in a 1/3 of States are Throwing Citizens in Jail for Small Debts
Published on September 3, 2012 by admin · 1 CommentDebt collectors in states including Missouri and Alabama are using legal loopholes to lock up poor citizens who can’t pay their debts.
Illinois’ Attorney General Lisa Madigan has attacked the revival of the ‘debtors’ prisons’ – something most people associate with Dickens novels.
‘Too many people have been thrown in jail simply because they’re too poor to pay their debts,’ Madigan said. ‘We cannot allow these illegal abuses to continue.’
Injustice: ‘Too many people have been thrown in jail simply because they’re too poor to pay their debts,’ Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan saidThe United States abolished debtors’ prisons in the 1830s, but more than a third of states allow borrowers who can’t or won’t pay their debts to be jailed.
The Wall Street Journal has flagged up an increasing number of debt-related incarceration, with the debts ranging from bills for health care services to credit card and car loans.
In Missouri, the state constitution outlaws imprisoning someone for unpaid debts.
Debtors’ prison: The US abolished debtors’ prisons in the 1830s, but more than a third of states allow borrowers who can’t or won’t pay their debts to be jailed
Despite this, sly payday lenders are putting people behind bars by getting a judgement in civil court, which summons them to appear for a ‘examination’ or review of their financial assets.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, if they fail to show for the examination the creditor can ask for a ‘body attachment’ which is effectively a warrant for the person’s arrest.
The police then haul them in jail where they remain until there’s a court hearing or they pay the bond – which is usually set at the amount of the original debt.
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