MODERN DAY DEBTORS’ PRISON: New Jersey Ex-Husband Fighting Alimony Denied Release.

Ari Schochet, a New Jersey man sent to jail for missing alimony payments, was ordered by a judge to remain confined in a county work-release program.

Schochet, featured in an Aug. 26 Bloomberg story on proposals to change New Jersey’s alimony laws, must spend his nights and weekends locked inside a county jail unless he pays a lump sum of $25,000 toward more than $233,000 in arrears, New Jersey Family Court Judge Ronny Jo Siegel ruled today after a hearing in Bergen County Jail in Hackensack.

Schochet, who once worked as a portfolio manager at Wall Street firms, has been jailed for missing court-ordered payments at least eight times in the past two years after the end of his 17-year marriage. Job losses and a weak economy caused him to run through his savings trying to pay his ex-wife alimony and child support that totaled almost $100,000 a year.

Get a prenup.