NPR Reports that Debtors' Prisons Are Alive and Well

Although debtors' prisons are illegal across the country, you can apparently still end up in debt for an unpaid bill. I first came across this reality reading one of Lea Shepherd’s (Loyola Chicago) law review articles, Creditors Contempt. NPR  tells the story of Illinois debtor Robin Sanders in Illinois, who was stopped by police for a loud muffler but taken directly to jail on an arrest warrant for failure to appear at a hearing on an unpaid medical bill, all in a lawsuit she was unaware of. Similar stories have been reported in Indiana, Tennessee and Washington, and all involve selling debt to a collection agency, that then files a lawsuit against the debtor requiring a court appearance. A notice to appear in court is supposed to be given to the debtor. If they fail to show up, a warrant is issued for their arrest. According to the story, despite that debtor’s prisons were outlawed early in our country’s history, one-third of all states still allow people who have not paid bills to be jailed.

How can this be? Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is investigating this practice because it is clearly illegal to put people in jail for not paying a debt. Sometimes the incarceration process costs more than the debt owed, a charge sometimes billed back to the debtor. The Federal Trade Commission received more than 140,000 complaints related to debt collection in 2010. That's nearly 25,000 more than the previous year.