A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Prior to the mid 19th century debtors' prisons were a common way to deal with unpaid debt.
Famous quotes containing the word prison:
“This great purple butterfly,
In the prison of my hands,
Has a learning in his eye
Not a poor fool understands.
Once he lived a schoolmaster
With a stark, denying look....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)