Some of these articles are unclear, but it seems that most of them continue to miss the nuanced difference between jailed for failing to pay a debt and failing

Some of these articles are unclear, but it seems that most of them continue to miss the nuanced difference between jailed for failing to pay a debt and failing to respond to a court summons. The Minnesota cases seem to be the latter—people arrested for failing to come to a court hearing. The fact remains that prison for debt is illegal in the United States and you are astronomically unlikely to ever end up arrested for debts (especially if you always respond to summons). It seems that in the rare cases where someone actually is arrested in connection with debt they are in for a day or two at most. There are serious problems with law enforcement in this country (civil asset forfeiture, rampant abuse of power, etc.) but I don't think debtor's prisons are one of them. People aren't rotting away in jail for unpaid debts.