What are the results of a "Contempt of Congress" conviction?

[Stoic]

Also, how can the Congress compel a witness who has been served a subpoena to testify? Can they have him/her arrested?

[meldroc]

1. It may be initially problematic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_Congress

The standard procedure once Congress votes to hold someone in contempt of Congress is that they refer the case to a U.S. Attorney in the Department of Justice, who then hauls the guy in front of a grand jury. Assuming the grand jury elects to file charges, and the case is prosecuted and a conviction is made, the person found in contempt can be fined $100 - $1000, and imprisoned from one to twelve months.

Of course, we all know how fair and unbiased the DOJ is these days. I noted from the article that Congress hold a person in "inherent contempt" can have the Seargent at Arms of the House or the Senate arrest the person found in contempt and bring him to the floor. The Seargent at Arms is a law enforcement officer, though I don't know if he has legal jurisdiction outside of the Capitol grounds. Congress hasn't held someone in inherent contempt in decades - apparently, this procedure is quite unwieldy.

I do wonder if instead of referring a contempt of Congress citation to the DC U.S. Attorney, if Congress can instead refer it to the special prosecutor - the office of special prosecutor was created specifically for when the DOJ has a conflict of interest.