The Return of Debtors’ Prisons

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Some of the people discussed in the article had arrest warrants against them for missing court, and they hadn't known about the court date or about the arrest warrant until they were arrested.

The state should be required to inform people of mandatory court dates and arrest warrants by postal mail AND by phone AND by email, since each person may be attentive to one of those forms of communication and not the others.

They are. These are civil matters, and the plaintiffs are required to provide proof that the defendant was served according to state law. The proof generally requires a sworn statement to that effect. Obviously, the person accused can challenge jurisdiction based on lack of service, once they know about it. How this translates to courts issuing essentially criminal penalties for a civil issue is another matter. I have no idea what state law supports incarcerating civil defendants based on non-appearance for the first court date. Seems blindingly unconstitutional to me.

I mean that each person should be contacted by all three forms of communication about upcoming mandatory court dates and about an arrest warrant.

I don't think that is the current situation in Minnesota.

[...] T&#1211&#1077 Return &#959f Debtors' Prisons « T&#1211&#1077 Washington Self-determining [...]

[...] The Return of Debtors’ Prisons « The Washington Independent [...]

[...] The Return of Debtors' Prisons « The Washington Independent [...]

[...] The Return of Debtors' Prisons « The Washington Independent [...]

[...] The Return of Debtors' Prisons « The Washington Independent [...]

So corporations can go into billions of dollars in debt, and the tax payers have to pay it off, but a citizen can be arrested for a few hundred bucks? If this is true, then we really now longer live in a free society, but one run by the corporations.

So let me get this right. Corporations can be in debt and the U.S. government will bail them out, pat them on the head and say it'll be ok. But…….a citizen of this country owes a corporation money and they get tossed in the can……WT#……who moved me to Cuba while i was sleeping

Let them send someone after me for a dedt, After I kick the cops ass I will drag his ass the the debt collector so he can watch me kick his ass!!!

Shame on them! With the amount of people who do really bad things and are let go because of overcrowding and they are going to waste space on people who can't pay their cc debts. Arrest the cc companies for basically raking people over the coals with their raised interest and outlandish fees that can be changed w/out notice. And for the gov't to allow this to happen!!!! Bail out big corporations who are in worse debt than the avg american but lets jail the hard workers for several hundred or a few thousand. Makes my blood boil how things work anymore. When a law is no longer practiced it's for a good reason, tried and learned…doesn't work. Hey law enforcement…LETS FOCUS ON BIGGER ISSUES. Nice to know there is a working crack house down the street but my neighbor is being arrested for a $500 cc debt…idiots!

There needs to be a system in place. I had the same thing happen to me and they even had a certified letter supposibly signed by me. When it is a matter of jail time the summons needs to be certified and verified by proper i.d
In my case either the person delivering the summons or the cc company itself actually signed the certified letter because I could not be reached. Thank goodness I was out of state when it was signed so I had proof otherwise I would have been screwed. They are the crooks and need to be handled as such.

The truth is we no longer live in a Democracy but a Facist society, where the politicians do the biding of there masters “The Corporations”

What have we come to? Do we live in a police state? What an abuse of power? And to jail someone until they come up with a minimum payment is the stupidest thing I ever heard of!!!! How are they supposed to raise the payment when they are sitting in a jail cell?? These judges are idiots of the first order and the debt collectors are evil people and have the judges in their pockets. What a bunch of idiots!

I hate to go against the prevailing sentiment, but the people are not being arrested because of their debts. They are being arrested because they ignored a court order to pay their debts. They are in contempt of the court. All they need to do is show up. Look, since when is ok to not accept personal responsibility for your obligations? The story made repeated references to the fact that the people knew they owed money and they chose not to pay. That's theft, if not in the legal sense, in the moral. I don't care what you think it is, but they took money from somebody else, promising to pay, and then bailing out. Why should they not be held accountable? I find it interesting how every single person mentioned in this story paid what they owed after they were arrested. Why should people be able to lie and cheat companies and other people? (BTW, I know people love to rail against big, bad companies, but most businesses in the US are small businesses. Most employees work for small business, not large companies. Do you think small businesses could afford to float large numbers of deadbeats?) What do you think this costs people who pay their debts when these people do not? If companies could not collect from them, they would be forced to charge “honest” people more. The stuff these people stole doesn't come free. How do you expect companies to survive or to provide service if large numbers of people steal from them without recourse? Without this final line in the sand, companies and the general (honest) public would be worse off, which is why these states have these laws. If you thought it through, it's just ignorant to take the side of these people (all of whom obviously, when it came down to it, could have and did – thanks to the law – pay). Oh, and one more point: Why are you taking the side of people who are provided a recourse to not pay their debts? They could declare bankruptcy if they were truly unable to pay their debts. Bankruptcy would discharge the obligations; but, they do not file. Why? Because they are cheating people and they want to suffer no pain for themselves. They want everybody else to pay for them, but how is that fair?

I became permanently disabled and lost my employment and any means to pay my debt, let alone find enough money to feed myself and my son while SS decided to play their game of denying me. Almost lost everything after 2 years of no income. What blows my mind about this crap, is that I found out some of these Credit Card companies petitioned the courts for hearings that I never received notification that it was even happening. I only found out when I looked into my credit after 10 years of struggling. Found out that the courts had allowed them to grab onto the title of my house and also granted them an outrageous interest rate to boot. So, a loan I defaulted on that was originally $3000 had now turned into $12000. This is complete horse manure and it wouldn't surprise me that some government employee; namely the judge's; have their hands in the interests of these debit collectors.

you should be posting those states who have started up debtors prisons for amounts of less than 3000.– bucks. those states then should be avoided by anybody who are contemplating to move there.

Actually, where I live it costs $1,500.00 to file bankruptcy, plus any additional legal fees. I am a single mother (not by choice) and a veteran. I think not everyone whom has debts and quite frankly are unable to pay, are cheats, liars, etc. I am none of these negative descriptions you have said, yet I struggle daily to provide a safe & clean roof and food for my child. I think you need to wake up and realize that NO..credit cards, cell phone bills, or any other frivoulous “extra-type” expenses are not going to get paid when someone is struggling to provide necesseties to their family. Yes, these people ARE aware of their debt (they're being called/harrassed daily by the company) and so is their credit. I don't think it's cause to throw them in jail for less than $10K, nor do I believe it's alright to garnish their wages. Until you actually walk in that particular debtors shoes…shut your mouth because your ignorant to each individual situation.

we should jail the big corporations CEO's until they come up with the minimum 500,000,000 dollar payment on their multi billion dollar tax payer sponsored

Yeah Kurt, you are full of s–t

Don't pay your bills equals going to jail. I don't see a problem with that. Good economy or bad economy, stealing is stealing.

Um…duh–filing for bankruptcy costs money, if they had money they would pay their bills. You are totally missing the point which is not paying off your debt is not ILLEGAL in this country. Yet the police are being commissioned by unscrupulous collection agencies to do their dirty work. Whether they owe the money or not is not the point–the point is why are the police involved.

Kurt, you are 100% correct. Well said.

If you can't afford to pay upfront…Don't borrow, just wait until you can afford it. That's what's wrong here in the states. Look at our debt. Look at other countries that don't have a credit system. They're doing just fine in this down economy. Everyone has there own personal situation and I've seen thousands of them in my profession, but what it all comes down to is holding off on a purchase until you can afford it. Or, at the very least, budgeting for your debt with a worst case scenario in mind such as unemployment.

The big corporations just say “Oops” when they default on loans and the little guy gets tossed in the slammer until that “Oops” is fixed. Generally the corporations debt is in the hundereds of millions while the little guys' is a few hundred, the debt hounds that buy the debt should be targeting the big fish not minnows…

As the woman who mentioned in some of the comments that she was injured at work, so was I. Of course I could afford things. However, getting screwed by workmans comp and not being able to work equals loss of income. No one can predict the future. Oh perhaps you have a crystal ball. Even planning will not always work.