(MoneyWatch) 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." Debt collectors typically avoid filing suit against debtors, a representative with the Illinois Collectors Association tells the AP. "A consumer that has been arrested or jailed can't pay a debt. We want to work with consumers to resolve issues," he said. more-- http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505144_162-57417654/jailed-for-$280-the-return-of-debtors-prisons/
As I've been saying for years, we are heading BACK to the Dark Ages. It is a natural result of allowing the elite to wield unlimited powers. Debt collectors break the law CONSTANTLY as their main method of doing business and are NEVER held accountable. The US has not been a nation of laws in many decades and corporations and lawmakers are above the law.
It's an abuse of the legal system. My understanding is creditors first go to court and persuade judges to issue a 'pay or appear' summons. These pay or appear hearings are used to compel (read: harass) the debtor to appear in court as frequently as every single month. In many states, these summons are permitted to be delivered by mail and put people who travel for work or are in the process of moving at risk of missing one of the notices. If the debtor fails to appear for even one hearing, the creditor then gets the judge to issue a writ of body attachment - and this is where the leeches make their money. When the debtor is jailed, any monies paid for bail are handed over by the court to the creditor as payment of/toward the debt. This can occur even if a relative or friend put up the bail, and not the debtor themselves.
It is unclear we ever really left the Dark Ages. 'Progress' in Anglo-America has always been over hyped, and what was destroyed in 1776/1789, the Ancien Regime (which was an improvement on the Dark Ages), has proven to be a harder act to follow than hoped by the Revolutionaries in the US and France. 'Science' had a good run from say 1820 until the German feeder universities were smashed up for good in 1945. We have been living in a de facto post Scientific world since then, spending the capital the German universities and a few of their students on these shores bequeathed. I'm afraid the apocalypse happened before *most* of us were born. We *are* the first generation of the new Dark Ages -- with memories of, and an attachment to Rome of course. But it is just a memory, and it will fade as generations who knew neither its Spring, nor its Summer, but only its Fall and last Indian Summer, pass on into Winter, and decline from here, until the New Dawn. The challenge for our Race will be the work of a Charlemagne, an Alfred the Great, or St Bernard -- to put it back together again. The first half of the 20th century was quite a cataclysm. *Hundreds* of millions died, and if I am not mistaken, more are on the way....
These are all good points but I'd prefer a list of the states where this kind of thing is condoned/practiced. Especially as I don't know of anyone who's dealt with doctors or hospitals who hasn't been dunned endlessly for a bill that their carrier assured them was 'covered'.
^ Good question, but I do not know where a comprehensive list of states that have 'debtors' prisons' can be found. HuffPo (I know, I know...) suggests it's more than 1/3 of 'em. Wikipedia states the same, along with a short list where the practice is particularly notorious.
HuffPo, being clearly in the Jewish pocket, is doubtless a reliable source for information on the consequences of usury. In any event, states are desperate and trying really crazy legal crap. Check out the list of states that have activated the idea that 'filial duty' requires children to pay the debts of their parents -- most likely nursing home debts after the parent is dead. 17th century laws -- that's right ... predating the Founding ... are being invoked with success in some states. Got parernts? Better gas them quick, or pull the plug, before they destroy you. Personally, I'm happy to bring back 17th century White Man's Law ... as long as we bring back *all* of it. Jewish lawyers do like to pick and choose, though.... Pennsylvania is famous for this. I'm sure it has been tried elsewhere. GB 2.0 should definitely address this issue. Who the fuck cares about Daryl's dog? It's his *parents* (esp. the Jewish one) who could ruin him.... Jes' sayin'.
I think if you start jailing people who obviously have been hit with hard times you are gonna see a lot of gunfire at the corporate world. Can you imagine being jailed for owing $200 on your visa? I would lose my mind.
The worst they can do here is blacklist you, and there are so many people in debt here who default that if they reintroduced goal for defaulting, 70% of the population would be in prison.