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. She went to jail because she stopped going to her probation appointments. She said her probation officers threatened her: "Next time you come in and you don’t have any money, you’re going to jail." Fearing she would be thrown in prison for nonpayment, she stopped reporting.