The Bright Side: Debtor’s Prison

It can all seem so terrible, being in debt today. Phone calls. Credit reports. Debt collectors. One headache after another.

In truth, though, you are part of the luckiest era of debtors. For centuries in Europe and particularly England, debtors were sent to jail, sometimes for years, during some eras suffering alongside hardened criminals. Ever wondered about the origin of the phrase, “throw him in the clink?” The Clink was a notorious London debtor’s prison. When you read descriptions of those days, debt nowadays does not seem so bad.

Debtor's prisons started in the Middle Ages. At that time, a trip to debtor’s prison could mean starvation, death from disease, or eventual release as a serf or indentured servant. Not nice. As times moved forward, it’s hard to tell if things got better or worse.

By 1649, more than 10,000 Englishmen were in debtor’s prison, not infrequently gentlemen sent there by their tailors. A debtor could be kept there indefinitely, until the debt was paid or the creditor decided to let him go.

One obvious problem was that once in prison there was no way to earn money to pay the debt. Responsibility to pay the debt could then be shifted to the family. But wives and children didn’t exactly have many employment options in those times. They would either fall in the care of charity or end up living in the prison themselves. 

Needless to say, debtor's prisons were not nice places for family gatherings. The notorious Marshalsea Prison had several deaths by starvation and disease per day. Until the late 17th Century, debtors were kept with hardened criminals. With impoverished women moving in, prisons became hotbeds of prostitution.

How long did you stay there? Many European countries had a one-year limit. Not England. When they closed the Fleet Prison in the 1850s, considered the worst of the prisons, they found prisoners who had been prersent for 30 years.

The system made a lot of money for a lot of people. Unfortunately too often it wasn’t the debtors paying back the creditors. Bailiffs made a killing by controlling the flow of food, clothes, and other items in and out of the prison. Attorneys got a continuing source of clients.

While there were small reforms here and there, it wasn’t until 1869 that England outlawed debtor’s prisons. So if you ever tire of the hassles of debt, remember that only 150 years ago, it could have been far worse.