If someone asked me whether they could go to Jail for Debt, my first reaction would be “of course not.” However, that’s not exactly true. There are certain types of debt that can result in jail time. Moreover, there are loopholes in the law that allow people to go to jail for debt in many US states. Here is what you need to know. You Can Go to Jail For Debt: Taxes and Child Support There are different types of debt. If you owe taxes, commit tax fraud, or otherwise mess with the IRS, then you can go to jail for that debt. Likewise, you can go to jail for failure to pay court-ordered child support. These are the only two types of debt that can generally land you in prison. You Can Be Sued for Failure to Pay Other Debt Now here’s where things get a little slippery in the law. Technically, you can’t go to jail for debt when you don’t pay bills such as credit cards and hospital fees. Debtor’s prisons were abolished in America in the nineteenth century. However, there is a legal loophole in many states that effectively makes it possible to go to jail for that type of debt. Here’s how it works according to NOLO: You don’t pay your bill. The creditor sues you. You fail to show up at court. The court orders you to make a payment and/or show up for a hearing. You do not comply with the court order. You can go to jail for failure to comply with the court order. So, technically, you do not go to jail for debt. Instead, you go to jail for not complying with a court order to deal with your debt. Typically, you have to pay a bond to get out of jail. NOLO says that often the bond is the same amount as what you owed the creditor in the first place. States Where You Can Go to Jail for Debt The weird loophole above only applies in certain states. NOLO, and many other reports, indicate that it’s possible in about one third of US states. However, a 2018 ACLU report titled A Pound of Flesh: The Criminalization of Private Debt, found that judges in half of the country’s states have issued arrest warrants for debt. Those states are: Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana Kansas Louisiana Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Missouri Nebraska Ohio Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island Tennessee Texas Utah Washington Wisconsin Moreover, the ACLU report (which is a highly recommended read if you’re interested in the relationship between debt, poverty, and jail in this country) found that all but six states “expressly authorize debtors to be arrested and incarcerated for contempt of court.” The six states that do not have this type of law on the books, and therefore where you can not go to jail for debt, are: Alabama New Mexico North Dakota South Dakota West Virginia Wyoming How to Protect Yourself If you […]

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