Debtor’s prison’s are from the stories of Charles Dickens and old England and have been abolished in this County since 1830. Unfortunately, they are making a come back. Our national obsession with imprisoning people for relatively petty and non violent offenses amount to a modern-day form of debtor’s prison. Most arrests are for not appearing in court or responding to court requests such as interrogatories or old warrants for parking tickets, traffic violations. However, if you can’t pay the fine or post bail, you have to serve time and keep all of those in the court systems busy and continuing to earn a living.
YAHOO posted an article about breast cancer survivor Lisa Lindsay ending 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.”
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