debtors’ prison

When Melinda Sandlin walked out of Discount Furniture in Austin in late 2014, she was sure the store had put her on a payment plan to buy a new bedroom suite worth $2,750.
A year later, after realizing she had sent in more than $3,000 for her seven-piece set, she figured she was done. So Sandlin told the store clerk she wasn’t going to be making any more monthly payments.
“I already bought it out,” she recalls telling them. “And they’re like, ‘Oh no, read your contract. It’s a rental contract. It’s not a purchase contract.’ ”

A prison guard on horseback watches inmates return from a farm work detail at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La.
Legislation that would make it easier for poor people to satisfy traffic tickets with alternatives to payment cleared the Texas House on Tuesday on a vote of 75-70. The bill needs to be approved by the Senate again before moving to Gov. Greg Abbott‘s desk.