“If the judgment debtor was concealing assets or had assets in the custody of others, the creditor had few remedies. The primary remedy a creditor did have in such a case was imprisonment for debt. Contrary to the misrepresentations fostered by Dickens and others, this was not a mechanism by which the poor were summarily thrown into prison. Rather, this was a mechanism for persuading a debtor who was hiding assets to reveal them. The creditor paid a per diem sum for the incarceration of the debtor, and this amount was deducted from the judgment each day. The premise was that the debtor would reveal the assets and pay the judgment to avoid continued imprisonment. This procedure had mixed effectiveness and was generally an inefficient remedy for creditors.” – Robert G. Markoff and Christopher J. McGeehan, “Enforcement of Judgments”