Charles Dickens’s father was sent to the Marshalsea debtors’ prison, ostensibly over a loaf of bread. (In reality, it’s just that the baker got to court first; there were several people in line behind the baker, each with his own list of unpaid receipts.)
Victorian debtors’ prisons were odd beasts. Many allowed you to continue conducting business — as long as you could conduct your business remotely, using letters and runners. That business-running was important, because ironically Victorian debtors’ prisons required the debtor to pay his keep. So, even if one were lucky enough to pay back the baker and the banker, if one still owed money to the prison, one would remain imprisoned.
I mention all of this (and you’re welcome) because, if you’ve paid attention to the news recently, debtors’ prison are hot hot hot again! You may have missed this at your last staff meeting — maybe you made a quick duck into the restroom or you were re-filling your water bottle — but collection agencies everywhere are arresting debtors and putting them in prison.
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