“Indefinite Incarceration” Over $300 Lumber Yard Debt?
June 10th, 2010Via: Star Tribune:
You committed no crime, but an officer is knocking on your door. More Minnesotans are surprised to find themselves being locked up over debts.
As a sheriff’s deputy dumped the contents of Joy Uhlmeyer’s purse into a sealed bag, she begged to know why she had just been arrested while driving home to Richfield after an Easter visit with her elderly mother.
No one had an answer. Uhlmeyer spent a sleepless night in a frigid Anoka County holding cell, her hands tucked under her armpits for warmth. Then, handcuffed in a squad car, she was taken to downtown Minneapolis for booking. Finally, after 16 hours in limbo, jail officials fingerprinted Uhlmeyer and explained her offense — missing a court hearing over an unpaid debt. “They have no right to do this to me,” said the 57-year-old patient care advocate, her voice as soft as a whisper. “Not for a stupid credit card.”
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.
Not every warrant results in an arrest, but in Minnesota many debtors spend up to 48 hours in cells with criminals. Consumer attorneys say such arrests are increasing in many states, including Arkansas, Arizona and Washington, driven by a bad economy, high consumer debt and a growing industry that buys bad debts and employs every means available to collect.
Whether a debtor is locked up depends largely on where the person lives, because enforcement is inconsistent from state to state, and even county to county.
In Illinois and southwest Indiana, some judges jail debtors for missing court-ordered debt payments. In extreme cases, people stay in jail until they raise a minimum payment. In January, a judge sentenced a Kenney, Ill., man “to indefinite incarceration” until he came up with $300 toward a lumber yard debt.
Wow thats some legal spin.
“to indefinite incarceration” sounds like a terror suspect getting a few months/years of hidden investigations, to then face charges.
But to see it used on US citizens over debt and with no outcry just seems to show how far the world has slipped.
My friends, this is no longer the country we grew up in. True, there are still a few Friday night band concerts around the local gazebo and they play “The Star Spangled Banner.” But, today it is all for show. We live in a Police State and no less so than those under Hitler and Stalin. It is the Power Elite vs. the Rest of Us. And the Power Elite controls those with the guns. And that’s the name of that tune.
The opinions people are forming from this story are somewhat flawed. If you concentrate on what the article says you will notice that the woman was NOT arrested for “owing money”, she was arrested for “missing a court date”.
You can ignore bill collectors without worry; they have no power, but you cannot ignore a court summons.
The answer to this problem, of course, is do NOT answer the door. If you don’t answer the door you can’t be served a court summons. If you are served, you can not ignore anymore, and will need to hire a lawyer.
Honestly, I don’t understand why anyone answers there door unless they already planned for someone to come see them.