Can you go to prison if you don't pay your bills?

When people are struggling financially creditors have all sorts of clever ways for collecting on debts, but what about debtors prison.  Can people go to jail if they don't pay their bills?

A few years ago Findlaw took a look at this and makes some startling discoveries.

It turns out that it's possible to be sent to jail for nonpayment of bills, as debt collectors ask local police to assist in debt collection, sometimes getting civil warrants to arrest the culprit who owes money.

"It's certainly an efficient way to collect debts, but it's also highly distasteful," Hennepin County District Judge Jack Nordby told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "The amount of bail should have nothing to do with the amount of the debt."

No one knows how much this happens because there are no statistics on this issue, but it is likely surprising to find out that going to jail for owing a debt can actually happen.

That used to be the punishment for unpaid debts in the mid-nineteenth century, but in 1833 the practice was abolished at the federal level.

In  an article in 2009, the New York Times reported about the case of Edwina Nowlin.  She was a poor woman living in Michigan who was asked to reimburse a juvenile detention center $104 a month for keeping her son who was 16-years-old at the time.  When she was unable to pay, she was put in prison.  The American Civil Liberties Union had to intervene in this case and got her out.   But she spent 28 days in jail.

Some debt collectors, however, continue to think this type of punishment is reasonable, even though its tough,"Admittedly, it's a harsh sanction," said Steven Rosso, a partner in the Como Law Firm of St. Paul, "But sometimes, it's the only sanction we have.

So what do you do if you can't pay a bill?  Forbes Magazine has some recommendations.  The most important one is to examine the type of debts and pay off secured loans first.  That's because a car or a home are important assets, that if lost can create problems on many levels.  With hospitals and credit card companies, a payment plan is often possible.

In any case, for the most part people need not fear going to jail, as it is rare enough.  But just to be safe, be cautious with debt and don't buy what you can't pay for, is the best financial advice, to avoid jail, if that is a possibility and to be able to manage an emergency by having a cash reserve.