Debtors' Prisons

The ACLU and its affiliates have been exposing and challenging modern-day debtors’ prisons, urging governments and courts to pursue more rational and equitable approaches to criminal legal system debt.

Racial Justice issue image

What you need to know

1 in 3
One in three Americans has a debt that has been turned over to a private collection agency.
95%
Over 95 percent of debt collection suits end in favor of the collector, usually because alleged debtors do not mount a defense.
40
Over 40 states across the country suspend driver’s licenses for outstanding court debts, a practice that disproportionately harms low-income people. Driving with a suspended license carries a penalty of between two days and six months.

What's at Stake

Nearly two centuries ago, the United States formally abolished the incarceration of people who failed to pay off debts. Yet, recent years have witnessed the rise of modern-day debtors’ prisons — the arrest and jailing of poor people for failure to pay legal debts they can never hope to afford, through criminal legal system procedures that violate their most basic rights. These trends devastate communities across the country as unmanageable debt and household financial crises become ubiquitous, and they impact Black and Latine communities most harshly due to longstanding racial and ethnic gaps in poverty and wealth.

The ACLU and ACLU affiliates across the country have been exposing and challenging modern-day debtors’ prisons across the country.

Nearly two centuries ago, the United States formally abolished the incarceration of people who failed to pay off debts. Yet, recent years have witnessed the rise of modern-day debtors’ prisons — the arrest and jailing of poor people for failure to pay legal debts they can never hope to afford, through criminal legal system procedures that violate their most basic rights. These trends devastate communities across the country as unmanageable debt and household financial crises become ubiquitous, and they impact Black and Latine communities most harshly due to longstanding racial and ethnic gaps in poverty and wealth.

The ACLU and ACLU affiliates across the country have been exposing and challenging modern-day debtors’ prisons across the country.

{{ showFullContent ? 'Hide more content' : 'Expand to read more' }}
Support our on-going litigation and advocacy work