In Missouri, debtors prison is alive and well
If you think the term 'body attachment' sounds like bad news, you're right. Critics say it's illegal, yet the practice remains common.
Christopher Maag
Debtors prisons may be illegal under the Missouri state constitution, but the practice of locking people up for unpaid debts is alive and well, according to recent reporting by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Using a little-known practice called "body attachments," debt collectors, often working for payday lenders, regularly succeed in getting debtors thrown behind bars.
Critics say the practice is illegal and wastes finite government resources.
The practice is also common in neighboring Illinois, where state leaders recently passed legislation limiting the circumstances in which creditors can get debtors jailed for failure to pay private debts.
"It is outrageous to think, in this day and age, that creditors are manipulating the courts, even threatening jail time, to extract whatever they could from people who could least afford to pay," Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who has spent the past year campaigning for her state's new law, told the newspaper.
Attorneys for creditors disagree. The arrests and jail time are actually meted out to punish people for failing to appear in court to discuss their debts, they point out.
"If they've had notice and they fail to appear, then they get what they deserve," Mitchell Jacobs, an attorney for creditors, told the Post-Dispatch.
Winding up in debtors prison is a three-step process. First, the creditor gets a civil judgment showing that the debt is legitimate and the debtor has failed to repay. Next, the creditor and debtor meet in court for what's called an "examination" of the debtor's assets, which the lender may be able to seize.
If the debtor fails to show up for the examination, the creditor can ask the court for a "body attachment," which functions like an arrest warrant. The debtor can then be arrested and held in jail until he or she appears in court or pays the bond. The bond is commonly set at the amount owed in the original debt.
"It's the judge saying, 'You didn't show up when we told you to, and I don't like it," Jacobs says.
But the system is easily abused, according to lawyers who represent low-income debtors. Creditors can request multiple examinations, increasing the likelihood that a debtor won't show up.
"They were dragging them back to court again and again, waiting for them to fail, so they could get a body attachment against them," Swearingen says.
The new law in Illinois requires courts to send two notifications to debtors before ordering an arrest, and bars creditors from obtaining repeat examinations unless the debtors' circumstances have changed. There is currently no effort afoot to limit the practice in Missouri.
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vote republican and we can bring back the debtors prisons. while we are at it maybe we can start putting people in stocks and bring back caning. stone those whores that go out in public without covering their faces. it might be a good idea to start burning witches again just to be safe. maybe outlawing the democratic party would be a good idea too. those damn idiots.
VOTE REPUBLICAN
I don't doubt it one bit. Just like the money loaners, organized crime, started this business years ago. They loaned money at outrages pay back rates and if you didn't pay a couple of collectors would pay you and your family a vist. They may threaten you and your family the first couple of vists if you did not pay the money. Eventually someone would be physically hurt over the unpaid money. The Mafia got by in large put out of business by law enforcement. Now the banks have taken over. The Banks are the loan scalpers and our law enforcement are the collectors. If the American people don't do something soon, start by voting incumbents out of office, our country and freedom will be lost. Both Presidential candidates are owned by the banking industry. We need a third party voice of the people to run and we need to vote for candidates without the hundred million dollars in TV ads. Vote for a name and a face you have seldom seen it is a way to start changing things. Vote for me for President and in the first week of office I pledge to:
Regulate Banking heavily.
Change the Rules on Credit scores and reporting.
End the sensless wars and bring our troops home.
Medicare and Medicade for every American. We have to put the crooked drug companys and insurance companys to rest. shut them down and get them out of our health care system. Common sense they just take their money off the top. Why does a tube of Salve (made in India) cost 560.00 like I had to pay just the other day. A tube of freakin salve 560.00 dollars.
Everyone pays Social Security Taxes on 100% of their earnings. Earn more, draw more, then pay more.
Flat Tax for everyone middle class and above. Poor pay no taxes, we have to give poor people a chance. Everything the poor buys cost them more because they have poor credit most generally.
Corporations are not people. Force Legislation through stating such.
Shut down the Supreme Court. It is nothing but politicos that do not deserve to be called Honorable. Honory would be a much more fitting title.
Tax the living hell out of American Companys who move overseas and then ship their junk back to the U.S.A. Force all company C.E.O. and V.P.'s to leave the U.S.A. they have no patriotism for our country so throw them out.
Minimum Wage to 20.00 per hour. Everyone makes a living wage. It would get people off welfare and super spur the economy.
Thats a good first week, what do you say would you vote for me?
our history indicates that many came to america to avoid the system of debtors prisons in europe. most people today would likely support the elimination of debtors prisons. unscrupulous creditors know that many to whom they loan money are not capable of paying the debt back. they still believe they can extract their pound of flesh. the courts should not be used to help these creditors. while some of the non-payers are clearly deadbeats, many are unsophisticated, uneducated and/or been subject to misfortune.
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