Debtors Prisons: Still Not Returning, No Matter How Hard Yahoo News Tries

Published on:
24 April 2012 at 07:33 a.m. ET

Written by: Mike Bevel –

http://www.insidearm.com/news/00005050-debtors-prisons-still-not-returning-no-ma/

Dear Yahoo News:

In a story titled “The Return of Debtors’ Prisons,” you can’t have it both ways. You can’t allege, in one paragraph, “U.S. states allow the police to haul people in who don’t pay all manner of debts,” and then suggest, “Illinois isn’t the only state where residents get locked up for owing money,” while at the same time correctly reporting this:

“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.”

Debtors’ prisons are not coming back or returning or making a resurgence or any other sexy verbs you want to toss into the mix.

Mike Bevel is Associate Editor at insideARM.com. A Dickens scholar, he knows more than most about debtors prisons.