[eXpat]

Back to Charles Dickens times:
Jailed for $280: The Return of Debtors' Prisons

How did breast cancer survivor Lisa Lindsay end up behind bars? She didn't pay a medical bill -- one the Herrin, Ill., teaching assistant was told she didn't owe. "She got a $280 medical bill in error and was told she didn't have to pay it," The Associated Press reports. "But the bill was turned over to a collection agency, and eventually state troopers showed up at her home and took her to jail in handcuffs."

Although the U.S. abolished debtors' prisons in the 1830s, more than a third of U.S. states allow the police to haul people in who don't pay all manner of debts, from bills for health care services to credit card and auto loans. In parts of Illinois, debt collectors commonly use publicly funded courts, sheriff's deputies, and country jails to pressure people who owe even small amounts to pay up, according to the AP.

Under the law, debtors aren't arrested for nonpayment, but rather for failing to respond to court hearings, pay legal fines, or otherwise showing "contempt of court" in connection with a creditor lawsuit. That loophole has lawmakers in the Illinois House of Representatives concerned enough to pass a bill in March that would make it illegal to send residents of the state to jail if they can't pay a debt. The measure awaits action in the senate.

"Creditors have been manipulating the court system to extract money from the unemployed, veterans, even seniors who rely solely on their benefits to get by each month," Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said last month in a statement voicing support for the legislation. "Too many people have been thrown in jail simply because they're too poor to pay their debts. We cannot allow these illegal abuses to continue."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/jailed-for--280--the-return-of-debtors--prisons.html

[AgentR11]

Under the law, debtors aren't arrested for nonpayment, but rather for failing to respond to court hearings, pay legal fines, or otherwise showing "contempt of court" in connection with a creditor lawsuit.

There is NEVER a good reason to not show up, failing to show for court is how the fines and other junk start accruing, failing to show ALWAYS makes it worse, and usually in the worst possible way. Not to suggest the legislature shouldn't clarify the intent of the law.

If they're gaming the system to get arrests, that's about as stupid a practice as you can create, because it'll guarantee a whole new level of obligations on the delinquent person that take precedence over the debt you are trying to collect.

[PrestonSturges]

Failure to appear can tangle someone in the legal system for months or even years, often over a citation that they never received, or a fine they paid but was not taken off the books.

It's not unusual for the state to spend upwards of $50,000 harassing someone over $50 or a suspended license until a public defender gets the judge to cancel everything out.

[EnergyUnlimited]

Back to Charles Dickens times:
Jailed for $280: The Return of Debtors' Prisons

How did breast cancer survivor Lisa Lindsay end up behind bars? She didn't pay a medical bill -- one the Herrin, Ill., teaching assistant was told she didn't owe. "She got a $280 medical bill in error and was told she didn't have to pay it," The Associated Press reports. "But the bill was turned over to a collection agency, and eventually state troopers showed up at her home and took her to jail in handcuffs."

Although the U.S. abolished debtors' prisons in the 1830s, more than a third of U.S. states allow the police to haul people in who don't pay all manner of debts, from bills for health care services to credit card and auto loans. In parts of Illinois, debt collectors commonly use publicly funded courts, sheriff's deputies, and country jails to pressure people who owe even small amounts to pay up, according to the AP.

Under the law, debtors aren't arrested for nonpayment, but rather for failing to respond to court hearings, pay legal fines, or otherwise showing "contempt of court" in connection with a creditor lawsuit. That loophole has lawmakers in the Illinois House of Representatives concerned enough to pass a bill in March that would make it illegal to send residents of the state to jail if they can't pay a debt. The measure awaits action in the senate.

"Creditors have been manipulating the court system to extract money from the unemployed, veterans, even seniors who rely solely on their benefits to get by each month," Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said last month in a statement voicing support for the legislation. "Too many people have been thrown in jail simply because they're too poor to pay their debts. We cannot allow these illegal abuses to continue."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/jailed-for--280--the-return-of-debtors--prisons.html

I would waive first $10000 but get quite serious above there.

[rangerone314]

How many 1%'ers have gone to prison after pretty much collapsing the US economy a few years ago, and now this?

Capitalism when they make money, socialism when they lose money, and debtor prisons for everyone else.

Its a good thing they are so blatant with all this, otherwise one might mistake this for a democratic society (Digital Millenium Copyright Act, Patriot Act and National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, Kelo v City of New London, Citizens United case, DeShaney v. Winnebago County DSS aside)

[beamofthewave]

I was reading that the prosecutors in LA are working for free hoping at some point for a paying job. So no money and they cant pay their bills and maybe they can prosecute themselves and put themselves in jail.