Why Debtors Prisons Are The Answer

As most of you will know, debt and bankruptcy are getting out of hand. The more help there is out there, the more debt problems arise. This is why we think debt prisons are again the answer.

Now before most of you hit the roof and start phoning your local MP, please give us a chance to explain our reasoning.

When someone doesn't pay back their debt, that debt has to be paid for by others that use that service. It’s precisely the same as the effect that shoplifting has when someone doesn't pay for their shopping. Those costs get passed onto people who use the service legitimately. In these cases, locking people up is the accepted and welcomed policy.

So why is not repaying loans any different from shoplifting?

If we brought back debtors prisons, the price of loans could be reduced. They’d be reduced because bad people wouldn't apply for them without a concrete plan to repay them on time. They'd take their own financial responsibility much more seriously if it was linked directly to their liberty This means that there would be less problem debt. Now surely fewer people in problem debt is a good thing and is something that politicians could get behind.

While it is technically illegal to be imprisoned for Civil Debt in the UK at present, you could be imprisoned for not obeying a court order to repay the debt. Basically, if we went to court and obtained a CCJ against a borrower, and they failed to repay that, They could legally go to court for being in contempt of court. 

The law is already there; we just need to enforce it.

Think of how satisfying it would be as your neighbour who is always living beyond his or her means, the one who has been living the high life driving round in flash cars – we all know them – is carted off to prison for a couple of months because he doesn't make the repayments.

At the moment, he’s laughing at everyone else having to cover his high life. This is why it is time for justice for responsible borrowers.