Maybe the reason they would argue this is a debtors prison and not merely a matter arising from a criminal conviction is that she was ordered to pay back money

Maybe the reason they would argue this is a debtors prison and not merely a matter arising from a criminal conviction is that she was ordered to pay back money which she had not, and therefore was remanded to the debtors prison. If she had the money, and paid it back, I would argue this would not have happened. The restitution centre is literally there to pay back debts, and not of the 'to society' kind. But also to the very premise of theft, if I take $13,000 which I had access to from my boss but was not supposed to take, that is criminal (fair). But if my boss takes $13,000 from me, because he is a lousy cheapskate who decides to not pay me fairly for the time which I worked. That is a civil matter? Hell, in this case it is not even a civil matter, they are allowed to only pay her $4 an hour. 92 weeks of cheap forced labour. Seems to me these words are all just used to reinforce the status quo.