U.S. Attorney General expects national guidelines against debtors prisons

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters on Friday that the Obama administration will issue national guidelines urging local municipalities to drop their use of debtors prisons like those recently detailed in the Justice Department's investigation in Ferguson, Missouri. Holder said President Barack Obama's task force on policing will issue guidelines to address the practice of jailing citizens who owe money to the city, but noted the federal government does not have the authority to impose such a change on local governments. "We'll come up with guidelines that I think will change the situation as it exists in some places and certainly in places like Ferguson," Holder told reporters. (Reporting By Julia Edwards; Editing by Sandra Maler)