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From the fine article, emphasis mine: > He says seven deputy US Marshals showed up at his home with guns and took him to federal court where he had to sign a p
by greggyb 11y ago
From the fine article, emphasis mine:
> He says seven deputy US Marshals showed up at his home with guns and took him to federal court where he had to sign a payment plan for the 29-year-old school loan.
He was not taken to prison, he was arrested. These are wildly different actions. Nowhere in the article do the strings "prison", "jail", "gaol", "cell", "penitentiary" or any other synonym for prison appear.
There is plenty of discussion elsewhere in the HN comments on what may have led to this arrest.
- kels 11y agoIn the video he said he was placed in a 4x4 cell for an hour before being taken to a judge. He said no one read his rights or allowed him to get representation.
- mywittyname 11y agoA more thorough article: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/u-s-marshals-arresting-people-not-paying-student-loans-article-1.2533153 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/u-s-marshals-arrest... > Aker said he was put in the back of a truck and placed in a cell at the federal building in downtown Houston. > Aker told The News that he was ordered to pay $5,700 for the loan, including interest. However, Aker was also ordered to pay for the cost of the morning arrest — nearly $1,300. > If he didn't pay that amount by March 1, he said, he was told he would be arrested again. Wonder what will happen when he's arrested again when he can't come up with $7000 in two weeks.
- greggyb 11y agoSo, a courthouse cell is a very different thing than being imprisoned. It's reasonable to assume that someone brought to court against their will would not be so willing to stay there. I have made no statement about the propriety of the actions described in either article, merely observed that this is not a case of sending someone to prison over a debt.