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Citizens Jailed For Being Poor In Debt Collection Agencies' Scam
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October 16, 2018
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23:03Now PlayingVia America’s Lawyer: On this episode of America’s Lawyer, Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins discuss Judges that are acting in favor of Debt collection agencies and putting people in jail for not paying their bills. Mike then talks with Brigida Santos about the immunity gun manufacturers enjoy from facing any lawsuits for selling weapons of war to civilians. Then Mollye Borrows talks about the alarming re-emergence of black lung disease.
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Up until about the mid 1850s, debtor's prisons were a common sight in the United States, and all across Europe. The basic concept allowed governments to take a debtor to court, and if the indebted person couldn't pay, they were put into a work camp to pay off their debts. Once the debt was paid, the individual was allowed to go free.
These debtor's prisons allowed for slightly more freedom than a typical prison, there were no armed guards and the prisoners were often allowed to leave to go to work their regular jobs during the day.
The practice was ended after it was decided that private debt shouldn't land someone in a forced labor camp. And as bankruptcy were modernized, it became easier for people to stay out of these debtor's prison, leading to their eventual demise.
Then things changed in the United States. Starting in the late 1970s, when more and more American citizens began going to prison over unpaid fines to either the courts of the state, and the term debtor's prison was once again entered into the American lexicon. Owing money to the government is one thing, and what about private debt owed to corporations though? After all, private debt's a civil matter, not a criminal matter. So it'd be almost impossible to be sent to prison for debt owed on medical bills, or credit cards, or student loans. There was a time when that would seem impossible, but those days are far behind us.
According to a recent report by the ACLU, more and more citizens are being thrown into prison by judges who say that private debt held by collections agencies is now a criminal offense. Which most legal experts agree is a clear violation of the Equal Protection Clauses of the 14th Amendment.
But as the corporate stranglehold on American life gets tighter, it's becoming increasingly clear that corporations always get what they want. And right now, they want Americans put in jail if they aren't paying their bills.
Joining me now to talk about this is Farron Cousins, editor of the Trial Lawyer Magazine.
Farron, tell us exactly what's happening with these modern debtor's prisons?
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