finance.yahoo.com/news/jailed-for--280--...ebtors--prisons.html

Although the U.S. abolished debtors' prisons in the 1830s, more than a third of U.S. states allow the police to haul people in who don't pay all manner of debts, from bills for health care services to credit card and auto loans. In parts of Illinois, debt collectors commonly use publicly funded courts, sheriff's deputies, and country jails to pressure people who owe even small amounts to pay up, according to the AP.

"Creditors have been manipulating the court system to extract money from the unemployed, veterans, even seniors who rely solely on their benefits to get by each month," Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said last month in a statement voicing support for the legislation. "Too many people have been thrown in jail simply because they're too poor to pay their debts. We cannot allow these illegal abuses to continue."

Rroush, I've mentioned this a couple of times previously (but not recently): all the "private prisons" being built are (ultimately) intended to be nothing but DEBTOR'S PRISONS - to warehouse the poor.

In other words, the U.S. government can be thought of as 1/2 George Orwell and 1/2 Charles Dickens.