Debtors' Prison Returns in the US

IN JAIL FOR BEING IN DEBT - You committed no crime, but an
officer is knocking on your door. More Minnesotans are surprised to
find themselves being locked up over debts.

It's not a crime to owe money, and debtors' prisons were abolished in the United States in the 19th century. But people are routinely being thrown in jail for failing to pay debts. In Minnesota, which has some of the most creditor-friendly laws in the country, the use of arrest warrants against debtors has
jumped 60 percent over the past four years, with 845 cases in 2009, a Star Tribune analysis of state court data has found.

Not every warrant results in an arrest, but in Minnesota many debtors spend up to 48 hours in cells with criminals. Consumer attorneys say such arrests are increasing in many states, including Arkansas, Arizona and Washington, driven by a bad economy, high consumer debt and a growing industry that buys bad debts and employs every means available to collect.

Whether a debtor is locked up depends largely on where the person lives, because enforcement is inconsistent from state to state, and even county to county.

In Illinois and southwest Indiana, some judges jail debtors for missing court-
ordered debt payments. In extreme cases, people stay in jail until they raise a minimum payment. In January, a judge sentenced a Kenney, Ill., man "to indefinite incarceration" until he came up with $300 toward a lumber
yard debt.

"The law enforcement system has unwittingly become a tool of the debt collectors," said Michael Kinkley, an attorney in Spokane, Wash., who has represented arrested debtors. "The debt collectors are abusing the
system and intimidating people, and law enforcement is going along with it."

Story from: http://www.startribune.com/investigators/95692619.html

*FAIR USE STATEMENT* found on my channel home page

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• debtors
• prison
• debt
• star
• tribune
• credit
• card
• collection
• agency
• agencies
• jail

[azis1100]

lmao, what is this BS? You, as a business, try to take my freedom...your CEO best invest in future security. COMM'ON POOKIE! LETS BURN THIS MOTHER FUCKER DOWN!

-

Big Business will find themselves neck deep in a noose with a pitchfork in their back here soon enough. Hell, I work in a Dem state in a corp that is 80% women...and you should HEAR the gun talk. Normal folks arming up... and on that note, 4million AR-15's and 12 "B"illion rounds were sold in the U.S. last year. Ppl R FeD Up.

[glenisah]

I would like to know who gave these Corporations all these powers.

And then it will be necessary to remove these jerks from any positions of Authority Immediately as well as reverse EVERYTHING THEY SUPPORTED

NO EXCEPTIONS

Restore the Republic before it's too late...WAKE UP already

[TheSkyglider9]

A petition has been started on moveon.org to prevent the return of debtor's prison in USA. To sign go to :

signon.org/sign/outlaw-the-ret­urn-of

[asana1973]

They are off the chain..the sociopathic states of America..get a bunch of shit started and then turn around looking like what the hell happened..

finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-­ticker/return-debtors-prisons-­collection-agencies-now-want-d­eadbeats-172417607.html

[LottsaLasagna]

Good Luck with you're Fake I.D. and Fake S.S. Number

[roccok100]

Some people lose their jobs and cant pay their morgages should they go to jail?

[saulpaulus]

There really are not two sides to this story. Imposing criminal penalties on someone as a collection tool is obscene. Living in the US is becoming more and more like a Dickens play.

[miklken]

what next the whipping post?

[MoldytoasterMedia]

don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

[L2design]

NAZIMERICA

[shaneofastrotek]

FUCK MY STUDENT LOANS. I QUIT BECAUSE ALL MY FUCKING PROFS WERE FUCKING COMMUNIST LIBERALS AND SOME FAILED ME BECAUSE OF MY VIEWS EVEN THOUGH I PASSED MY MID TERMS FINALS AND TESTS. I WILL NEVER PAY MY STUDENT LOANS AND I MIGHT JUST SUE THE SCHOOL FOR THE COST OF THE LOANS. LET THEM COME TO MY HOUSE. THEY WILL BE MET WITH A SHOTGUN TO THE HEAD

[AnotherAgnostic]

This is a warning... do not ever lock me up for debt. If you lock me up for debt I will embrace the bad.