Debtors again going to jail in the USA?

Remember how the first labor weeklies advocated against jail time for those who owed money? Those brave indy journalists won that battle 170 years ago, right? I guess some social problems have to be addressed and re-addressed through the generations, as these two reporters have done for the Minneapolis daily.

It's not a crime to owe money, and debtors' prisons were abolished in the United States in the 19th century. But people are routinely being thrown in jail for failing to pay debts. In Minnesota, which has some of the most creditor-friendly laws in the country, the use of arrest warrants against debtors has jumped 60 percent over the past four years, with 845 cases in 2009, a Star Tribune analysis of state court data has found.