Actually, that is not correct. There are some situations where a debtor can be placed in jail.....
Example: After obtaining a judgment against the debtor, creditor notices debtor for 'debtor exam' or other post-judgment actions (Request for Production, Interrogatories, etc.) and debtor fails to comply. Creditor then requests and gets court order for the debtor to comply with the valid requests of the creditor. Debtor still refuses and creditor gets Order of Contempt from the court and arrest warrant is executed on the debtor..... placing him in jail until such time as he/she agrees to abide by the order of the court.
MY RESPONSE: Actually, Enjay was correct. In the scenario you describe, above, it's no longer about the "debt" - - it's about the "contempt of court", and that's when a debtor can be jailed as you noted.
However, assume for the moment, that the judgment debtor complies with all court orders, and despite the information received through discovery and a "debtor's hearing", the judgment debtor STILL continues to ignore paying the judgment itself, or switches accounts, or doesn't put any money in his accounts to be levied against, or hides his funds, or is receiving day-to-day living expenses from an uncle, the judgment debtor WILL NOT, and CANNOT, be jailed for failure to pay the judgment debt.
IAAL