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Wendy McElroy: America's debtor prisons for men
Submitted by anthony on Fri, 2009-09-25 19:20
Article here. Excerpt:
'I received the following email from a heartbroken and understandably enraged wife whose husband languishes in America's version of a debtor's prison. No one knows how many people -- almost all of them men -- are being held indefinitely on contempt of civil court charges for which they do not have the due process protections offered to those accused of a criminal offense -- no right to a trial, an attorney, an appeal...no due process. Most of these imprisonments are for non-compliance with court ordered child support or alimony. It does not matter if the man is unable to comply due to poverty -- e.g. from losing his job; he can be imprisoned anyway until he "pays up." For an analysis of the plight of these prisoners who languish in jail without ever being arrested, tried or accorded Constitutional rights, please see my article "The Return of Debtor's Prison."'
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Comments
from second link
"H. Beatty Chadwick, a former corporate lawyer, has been imprisoned in a Pennsylvania county jail for over 13 years even though he has never been arrested, criminally accused or tried."
Doesn't that pretty much sum up the plot of Kafka's "The Trial"?
-ax
I-Feminists
- the only feminists who aren't evil clowns.
----------------------
Rise, Rebel, Resist.
Longshot
I've mentioned before that a strategy for combatting this is to hunt for a contempt case totally unrelated to CS or fathers rights where the defendant was unable to comply with a judge's demand. It could be anything. Our purpose would be to establish that, legally, contempt of court can not be involuntary. This is common sense. Otherwise, a judge could have you jailed for not flying upon request.
Once this precedent is set, then all the men imprisoned for not paying money they don't have should be set free. Ironically, if we find the perfect case, we could even get the feminist-laced ACLU to fight it for us. But keeping our ultimate agenda under wraps might be nearly impossible. Though at this point...
Public Servants
Every judge that has ordered this type of incarceration should be harrassed. Their names and addresses should be made public and a mass letter writing compaign should be started. If any of these judges have been elected, use this against them in public and get ready for the next election. They are public figures aren't they? They deserve to hear from the people that they are supposed to be working for. I have had the occasion to witness more than one public servant sit in a daze waiting for the DA to tell them what to do, about time we wake them up don't you think? I would love to see a post on here with a link to a list of judges that have conspired to abolish the Constitution by sentencing anyone to jail for a debt. The only way they are getting away with it is because they aren't using the regular court system. Contempt has a different set of rules. Challenging times require daring actions. I would love to hear their voices as they receive bags of mail telling them what we think of them. If we are lucky we get press. Either way we send a message. A non violent act of expression, a cry of despair? If I had the ability to provide this information I would. Perhaps someone else does? Have a great day!
David A. DeLong
manonthestreet Yes I agree
manonthestreet
Yes I agree with DeLong. Here in the UK something similar happened a few years ago when people would protest outside judges houses. As far as I know this has faded out now. These things usually do. I went to such a demonstration myself. In the USA you might stand a better chance.
I don't want to say this to you MRAs in the USA but you really will have to loose your patriotism. It leads you nowhere except in to a pointless spilling of your blood. It is no good thinking that there is some sort of imaginary ideal America that exists somewhere. The truth is there is no America except a feminist America and you are in fact a dispossessed minority in it.
I say this not to make you angry or insult you but to make you realize that expending your energies in pointless foreign wars will get you exactly nowhere. Neither Saddam Hussein or the Taliban are feminists and it is feminist who will destroy you and nothing else so know your enemy and don't get side tracked.