Maryland residents can be arrested and jailed for failure to pay rent, a phenomena otherwise known as debtors’ prisons. This incredibly damaging system punishes low-income families for their economic standing and cements them in a spiral of poverty. Data collected through MVLS research was used in this Baltimore Sun article illuminating how aggressive real estate company owners like Jared Kushner benefit by trapping low-income communities who owe money.

As MVLS staff attorney, Amy Hennen, put it in the Sun article, “A few hundred dollars can be the difference between making it and collapsing for tenants. But certainly the body attachment is probably the worst, because we’re talking about what is effectively a debtors’ prison, which is something out of Charles Dickens.”

To read more about how landlords like Jared Kushner are using this system for rent collection, click here.