Lisa Lindsay, Breast Cancer Survivor, Jailed Over Accidental $280 Medical Bill

In the latest example of aggressive debt collector tactics, an Illinois woman found herelf jailed over a bill she didn’t even owe in the first place.

Breast cancer survivor Lisa Lindsay of Herrin, Illinois was put in debtors' prison over a $280 medical bill that was sent to her by accident, the Associated Press reports (h/t The Daily Mail). Even after Lindsay was told she didn't have to pay the bill, it was sent to a collection agency. Eventually state troopers took her from her home in handcuffs. Lindsay ended up having to pay $600 to settle the charges.

Episodes like Lindsay’s are becoming increasingly common as the number of debts referred to third-party collection agencies has doubled since 2000. Because one third of U.S. states currently allow debtors to be imprisoned, thousands of Americans have been jailed because they can't pay their bills.

Indeed, the problem has become so widespread in Lindsay's state of Illinois that a bill to prevent debtors from going to jail will be heard this Tuesday in the Illinois state Senate after passing the House of Representatives.

That's because other Illinois residents have faced a fate similar to Lindsay's. Disabled roofer Jack Hinton, for example, was put in an Illinois prison for not settling a $300 bill with a lumberyard, according to the AP.

But the problem spans other states. In Colorado, Kelly Wiedemer spent four days in jail last summer for unpaid traffic fines.

Some people are fighting back. In California, for example, the number of lawsuits accusing debt collectors of "violating federal law" has exploded in the last seven years, according to the Sacramento Bee.

While collection agencies are responsible for the most consumer complaints to the Federal Trade Commission of any industry, it’s not always due to imprisoning debtors. In Oregon, 85-year-old Anne Sessions sued Wells Fargo in February after a debt collector continued to badger her, eventually calling in a fake report that she had threatened suicide. As a result, Sessions was left with over $1,000 worth of hospital bills when police required that she was evaluated.

Comments

[VeeVee McGee]

02:26 AM on 10/20/2012

OK, she was put in jail over money she didn't owe... and it was only $280?!?! Doesn't it cost tax payers more than $280 to have the police officers arrest her and her time in jail?

This has got to be considered abuse.

Government at it's finest. :-\

[Firstsai]

08:00 PM on 10/21/2012

Don't blame the goverment, blame the politicians who passed these laws.

[mel2u73]

01:26 PM on 10/19/2012

Colorado.....a state where mass murderers do not face the death penalty, but they put people who owe money in jail.!!! Money is more valuable then a life I guess......

[OhDidItGetInYourEye]

09:39 PM on 12/07/2012

"...Money is more valuable then a life I guess..."

There's no guessing about it. You hit it on the head.

[sensimilla]

11:04 AM on 10/19/2012

This is the wave of the future as America continues on his quest to becoming a fascist, corporatist country.

Pretty soon, we'll have to beg for water and food...

[mary jane3]

10:46 AM on 10/19/2012

I really thought debtor's prison had been abolished - I didn't think imprisonment for debt was possible in this day and time except for maybe IRS debt.

[DownloadingAna]

03:03 PM on 10/20/2012

Especially not for a debt for only a few hundred dollars!

[JoltBillRandal]

12:45 PM on 02/23/2013

"...except for maybe IRS debt."

And very few actually OWE anything to IRS. People in the PRIVATE SECTOR are not mentioned anywhere in the Internal Revenue Code. (26-USC) Or the Regulations. (26-CFR)

[Seliotis]

12:04 PM on 10/11/2012

Can she sue for wrongful arrest?

[Karl Speth]

04:00 PM on 10/11/2012

She should, the debtor said she didn't have to pay. Also, sue the police for brutality too.

[jjd76539]

11:09 PM on 08/20/2012

In some states these are called body warrents. Most are caused by medical bills and people not showing up for court and the judge gets nasty about it. Actions like the one in this artical happen in Indiana and parts of Tenn. In indiana the state legislator passed those laws with heavy influence from the medical corporations in that state. Debtor prisons went away years ago I always thought until a body warrent issue happend to a really good friend of mine that was put in for psyc holding after a arrest in southren Indiana. I think it is unfair in that case and in many others. It is a little known fact that these hospitals ect ect have a debt write off every year. The only thing I can reccommend to people is most hospitals have a hardship fund and people should fill out that paperwork ASAP if they cannot afford care.

[patches04]

03:35 PM on 08/09/2012

How in the world can they pay their bills if they are in prison? This reeks of ages gone by. What is happening? Where is the ACLU?

[bkahouna]

06:42 AM on 08/10/2012

The answer to your ACLU Q, Removing Crosses & Bibles.

[ndmy]

12:43 PM on 08/14/2012

They remove crosses and Bibles from pubic places. They are enforcing the laws of the United States. I am a citizen and I have no problem with them enforcing the laws of the land.

[nomoreprison]

01:58 PM on 07/25/2012

I am Lisa Lindsay. And I am so Happy the law passed today in Illinois!!! No more debtors prison.Woohoo.

[onwisconsin]

09:01 PM on 07/13/2012

Debtor's prisons? Where are we. Dickensian England?

What will be next? Workhouses?

[jerryny]

05:09 PM on 10/17/2012

We could ship them to Australia. Wait, that's a nicer place than here.

[JoltBillRandal]

02:41 PM on 11/01/2012

If the workhouses are operated by the hospitals. They would do a treadmill, too, but they couldn't find a practical use for them anymore.

[southingtonian]

07:25 AM on 02/23/2013

http://www.gencem.org/timeline.php treadmills never had any practical use, just torture for the poor.

[Ronald Ferreira]

01:53 AM on 07/13/2012

she shoould sue them for false arrest she has a good case.

[Damon Andrade]

01:41 PM on 07/04/2012

Can I as a Handyman have my customers who failed to pay me arrested? I think not. Only big business has the power to do this. This is a travesty of the American judicial system at it's worst. This is in my humble opinion a violation of out constitutional rights to a fair trial. No trial just arrest them huh.

[JoltBillRandal]

02:43 PM on 11/01/2012

Well, you COULD, but it would likely cost you much more than you could recover. Small claims works pretty well, if you kept good records of Clients and the bills they didn't pay.

[gwbsucs1]

07:23 PM on 07/02/2012

debtors prison ?

[DevineLowler]

03:52 AM on 06/07/2012

Another reason for me to hate cops.

[Recce1]

05:59 PM on 07/02/2012

It was the courts who ordered these arrests, not the police. Evidently you believe the police should refuse to enforce legal laws and court orders.

It would seem your reasons for hating police, and perhaps others, are illogical, likely based on emotion. Or are you just an anarchist?

[Grendizer]

07:17 PM on 07/02/2012

nuremberg defense, hilarious

[stanczyk9]

06:27 PM on 07/17/2012

To me it looks like there are plenty of judge's that should not be sitting on the bench. They order the arrests without useing some common sense or discretion, what are they they doing there?. Maybe they are being paid off by the collection agency's to sign the arrest warrant. And please don't tell me that judge's are not crooks themselves, they love money like anyone else. There have been quite a few here in Illinois that have been arrested through the years and sent to jail themselves, GOOD FOR THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[patches04]

03:36 PM on 08/09/2012

DevineLowler, hate the cops? That is awful. Hate the system that allows it and work to change it.

[freeSpeakr]

03:26 PM on 06/05/2012

Everybody relax. The market will fix everything donchaknow.

[Recce1]

06:00 PM on 07/02/2012

How is the "market" going to fix unjust court orders?

[vitacin]

02:09 PM on 09/22/2012

Ask Mitt Romney the "job creator".

[michaelc2b]

08:30 PM on 06/04/2012

I am shocked by this story. I had no idea that anyone could go to jail over an unpaid debt in the U.S. to begin with - and the fact that she didn't even owe the money makes the story even more insane! The article also said she ended up having to pay $600 to settle the charges - what is THAT all about? The original bogus bill was $280. I started googling this type of thing, starting with my state - and even though it is not "legal" in my state - people are being arrested anyway! Everything from medical bills to traffic tickets. THEN they have to pay for room and board in prison and any other "fees" involved. This is shocking.

[Recce1]

06:03 PM on 07/02/2012

I can see arresting someone for unpaid traffic tickets as they were fined for breaking the law.

As for the fees, governments have to raise money somehow and also need to intimidate innocent law abiding citizens into acquiescence, right?

[mctramp]

03:17 PM on 08/09/2012

Alot of States have adopted Private Prisons which make alot of money on prisoners while in thier care. This is just another way for the States and Privatized Institutions to reap more money out of the poor and middleclass workers. The Rights and Freedoms are being bought out by Big Bussness and unless people come togeather an vote in Political Constituates that are for the people and not Corperations our rights as Americans will soon be over.