system and intimidating people, and law
enforcement is going along with it."
How often are debtors arrested across the
country? No one can say. No national
statistics are kept, and the practice is largely
unnoticed outside legal circles. "My su ion
is the debt collection industry does not want
the world to know these arrests are
happening, because the practice would be
widely condemned," said Robert Hobbs,
deputy director of the National Consumer
Law Center in Boston.
Debt collectors defend the practice, saying
phone calls, letters and legal actions aren't
always enough to get people to pay.
"Admittedly, it's a harsh sanction," said
Steven Rosso, a partner in the Como Law
Firm of St. Paul, which does collections work.
"But sometimes, it's the only sanction we
have."
Taxpayers foot the bill for arresting and
jailing debtors. In many cases, Minnesota
judges set bail at the amount owed.
In Minnesota, judges have issued arrest
warrants for people who owe as little as $85
-- less than half the cost of housing an
inmate overnight. Debtors targeted for arrest
owed a median of $3,512 in 2009, up from
$2,201 five years ago.
Those jailed for debts may be the least able
to pay.
"It's just one more blow for people who are
already struggling," said Beverly Yang, a Land
of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation staff
attorney who has represented three Illinois
debtors arrested in the past two months.
"They don't like being in court. They don't
have cars. And if they had money to pay
these collectors, they would."
The collection machine
The laws allowing for the arrest of someone
for an unpaid debt are not new.
What is new is the rise of well-funded,
aggressive and centralized collection firms,
in many cases run by attorneys, that buy up
unpaid debt and use the courts to collect.
Three debt buyers -- Unifund CCR Partners,
Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc. and Debt
Equities LLC -- accounted for 15 percent of
all debt-related arrest warrants issued in
Minnesota since 2005, court data show. The
debt buyers also file tens of thousands of
other collection actions in the state, seeking