The Return of Debtor's Prisons

[MachineGhost]

This must be another new way to keep all them oppressed people, oppressed.  How clever!  I really like the "private for profit probation companies".  What could go wrong?

Cash-strapped cities and states increasingly are trying to tap a previously overlooked pot of money – uncollected fines, fees and other costs imposed by civil and criminal courts – in order to help them balance their books.

And when people don’t pay these court-ordered debts, some local officials have not been shy about tossing them in jail, leading to the creation of modern-day “debtor’s prisons”? full of poor offenders, advocates say.

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/in-plain ... -v18380470

[dragoncar]

This must be another new way to keep all them oppressed people, oppressed.  How clever!  I really like the "private for profit probation companies".  What could go wrong?

Cash-strapped cities and states increasingly are trying to tap a previously overlooked pot of money – uncollected fines, fees and other costs imposed by civil and criminal courts – in order to help them balance their books.

And when people don’t pay these court-ordered debts, some local officials have not been shy about tossing them in jail, leading to the creation of modern-day “debtor’s prisons”? full of poor offenders, advocates say.

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/in-plain ... -v18380470

Wait, so the plan is :

1) lock up people who owe you money, making it impossible for them to pay you back and incurring boarding costs
2) ...
3) profit?