“In interviews, 20 judges across the nation said the number of borrowers threatened with arrest in their courtrooms has surged since the financial crisis began.”-The Wall Street Journal

Maybe the push to get so many U.S. citizens in debt was part of an evil plan to create a multitude of cheap prison labor for Corporate America?

The Wall Street Journal has been tracking the growing trend of the return of debtors prisons.  At least 5,000 arrest warrants have been issued since 2010, and it’s probably higher than that because most courts don’t keep track of the type of arrest warrants issued.

The WSJ also stated that there are cases where the creditors even presented false documents to have people arrested, and some people weren’t even told why they were being arrested.

“It’s not a crime to owe money, and debtors’ prisons were abolished in the United States in the 19th century. But people are routinely being thrown in jail for failing to pay debts. In Minnesota, which has some of the most creditor-friendly laws in the country, the use of arrest warrants against debtors has jumped 60 percent over the past four years, with 845 cases in 2009, a Star Tribune analysis of state court data has found.”–In jail for being in debt, Star Tribune

Officially debtors prison was banned in 1833, but some judges are loving the idea of putting people into prison for not paying their debts: “I wish I could do it more. It’s often the only remedy to get people into court and paying their debts.”-Chris Freese, Piatt County, Illinois, Circuit Judge

In 2010 McIntosh County, Oklahoma, issued about 1,500 debt-related arrest warrants.  Salt Lake City, Utah, issued 950.  A debt collector, Encore Capital Group, filed 425,000 lawsuits against borrowers.

So many debt collection warrants have been issued in Indiana, that police and sheriff’s departments are complaining that their computer systems are locked up. The amount of warrants for borrowers far out number warrants for other ‘crimes’.  Indiana’s highest court has been asked to review the legality of arresting people who can’t pay their debts.

One analyst says this is just a logical evolutionary step that started with the War on Drugs, to make money for Corporate America, specifically corporate run prisons: “Debtor’s prison are making a comeback because of the debt collection industry. Elites like former Comptroller David Walker are waxing nostalgically for more punitive measures in the face of a population that simply cannot pay its debts.  The for-profit prison industry fits right in to this trend, both in terms of the financialization of the industry itself and the increased market for “beds” sought by for-profit prison lobbyists in terms of harsher prison sentences.”–Matt Stroller, Roosevelt Institute