Resurgence of America’s debtor prisons

originally by: RT.com
1st June 2011

More than a third of all US states allow borrowers of money who find themselves unable to repay their debts in harsh economic times to be jailed. US fudges have signed off on over 5,000 warrants since the start of 2010 in nine US counties against debtors, The Wall Street Journal found.

“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,” the Star-Tribune reported, “In January, a judge sentenced a Kenney, Illinois, man to ‘indefinite incarceration’ until he came up with $300 towards a lumber yard debt.”

According to the Star-Tribune, the man was a self-employed roofer who had broken his neck and back on the job and filed for disability.

He was unable to pay because he was unable to work to earn the money. His wife was forced to borrow the $300 on a credit card in order to free him from jail.

Bryce Covert, a senior communications officer at the Roosevelt Institute and the assistant editor of New Deal 2.0 said there is a clear jump in arrest warrants being issued to assist debt collectors by arresting Americans in debt, even though debtor prisons were outlawed years ago in the United States.

“Arrest warrants and jail time is being used as a punishment or a cohesion to get people who aren’t paying their bills or are missing court appearances to pay up,” she said.

Read full report >

Posted by Kushi Amlak-Sakhu on 05/06/2011. Filed under Featured Articles,Human Rights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry