The Return of Debtors Prison

Here's an excerpt from the end of the article, although I encourage you to read the rest at the link below:

Over the last decade, at least four people around the country have actually been arrested and at least briefly detained for their failure to pay library fines. Debtors have also been arrested and jailed in Arkansas, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Washington, Florida, and New Jersey. While the official charge is contempt of court, judges sometimes set the bail to the exact amount the debtor owes. When he pays it, it can go straight to the creditor’s coffers. At a time when the federal government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out big business, it’s a travesty that state and local governments are using the full force of their power to shake down private citizens on behalf of debt collectors—especially when many of those debts have been acquired for less than it costs to incarcerate a small-time deadbeat for a long afternoon, much less indefinitely.

Reason

So what do you all think? Could this be one of the rare, elusive bipartisan issues here on ATS?

I'll be the first to admit that many people who owe absurd amounts of money, buy cars and homes they can't afford arise little or no sympathy from me but I think we've all seen first hand or heard true stories about these debt collectors that kind of the level-the-playing-field as far as stupidity goes.

Anybody have any stories that could relate to this trend? Was their good cause to bail out the institutional actors like the banks, etc but shut the little guy down?

I'm off to watch football, have fun.