We applaud Mary Ann Lynch, media counsel for the Maine Judicial Branch, for her public assurances that Maine’s courts don’t jail those who are “unable” to pay fines (“Another View: Only those who can pay, but don’t, face jail time for unpaid fines,” April 3).

It is a much-needed baby step, reassuring the public about the sometimes murky policies surrounding unpaid fines and court-imposed expenses on the public by “officers of the court.”

We would hope that this statement by Ms. Lynch will not be her last proclamation of high-minded principles about other forms of judicially forced payment – say, in family courts.

Topics for further “prison for debt” discussion might include: court-forced payments of unitemized, disputed guardian ad litem bills and court-forced payment of a spouse’s legal bills with no limits on the size of charges, and no attempts to restrict a predatory lawyer’s exploitation of this situation.

Being forced to pay these kinds of bills with the overt or covert threat of jail is like letting a shark have access to your credit card. “Your money or your life.” “Your money or jail time.” Jail time may impact future work in many industries that will not hire someone with a jail record.

We sincerely hope that Ms. Lynch will continue this “conversation” with public clarification about threats of jail. And, one wonders, who is responsible for “oversight” and enforcement of the principles put forth by Ms. Lynch? Are there consequences for those judges who threaten jail?

It can get to sound like the old-time debtors’ prison from which our ancestors fled Europe to find a better way. An audit of these courts is long overdue.

We welcome any opportunity to continue this civil rights conversation with Ms. Lynch in more specific detail.

Jerome A. Collins, M.D.

Maine Guardian ad Litem Alert

Kennebunkport