Contempt Of Court

One of the strangest concepts in our legal system is being jailed for contempt of court. A judge at his or her discretion can do so without due process. Judge Ireland threatened to jail me after I lost my job if I did not pay alimony. In the end, I had to fork over $250,000 to buy out the alimony and avoid jail. Painful, especially considering my ex-wife only got alimony due to her perjury and her lawyer's fraud. 

Jailing for contempt of court is considered coercive not punitive. It is designed to force someone to do something, It is also indefinite. 

In 2009 H. Beatty Chadwick  was released after 14 years in jail for contempt of court. 

Chadwick was jailed in April 1995, accused of hiding $2.5 million from his ex-wife during divorce proceedings. Chadwick maintained he lost the money in bad investments. In 2006, before the economic downturn, experts estimated the money would be worth more than $8 million.

After repeated attempts to have himself freed, Chadwick's request was granted by Delaware County Judge Joseph Cronin, who determined his continued incarceration had lost its coercive effect and would not result in him turning over the money.

It is so strange that a judge can jail someone indefinitely without regard to the facts as there is no process in the contempt of court process to determine the facts. In my case, I believe the judge either didn't like me pointing out corruption in the legal system or he knew one of the guilty parties.