Stop Prison Profiteering

Join us in fighting the companies and governments that are financially exploiting prisoners and pushing the costs of mass incarceration on to the families of prisoners. This includes money transfer services, commissary companies, pay to stay fees, for-profit probation and parole, the bail bond industry and the other parasites feeding off the prison system.
The “Time is Money” documentary featured here was produced by theCenter for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative newsroom in Washington, DC. It was originally part of their “Profiting from Prisoners” series that originally appeared September 30, 2014.

Take Action

We are currently collecting information about the ways that family members of prisoners and detainees get cheated by the high cost of sending money to fund inmate accounts, and the ways that this money is given back upon release from custody (such as debit cards from private companies). There are pending federal actions where your stories could make a difference in these practices. Please fill out our survey to help us end prison profiteering.

The more stories we can collect the greater impact we can have.

If you or someone you know has been charged high fees to send money to a prisoner or to access money when released from custody we would like to know the following:

1) The name of the facility and state it is located in.

2) The name of the company processing the money or issuing the debit card.

3) How much money was taken from you? Were the fees disclosed? If so, how?

4) What documentation do you have?

5) When did it occur?

6) Did you object?

Please send your responses to: kmoses@humanrightsdefensecenter.org

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN

Action Alert: Prison Debit Cards

Mar 20, 2015 | by admin

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking comments on the fees associated with debit cards and currently debit release cards are not covered by CFPB regulations.

Many people are aware of the relatively recent practice of prisons and jails giving prisoners debit cards when they are released which have their funds on them and which incur high fees to access their own funds.

The Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC) has launched a campaign, Stop Prison Profiteering, to eliminate the practice of financially exploiting prisoners and their families.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking comments on the fees associated with debit cards and currently debit release cards are not covered by CFPB regulations. HRDC is submitting the attached comment urging the CFPB to regulate these debit release cards by prohibiting the fees associated with them and giving prisoners the ability to opt out of these debit cards when they are released from prisons or jails.

If your organization would like to sign on to the HRDC comment being submitted on Monday march 23, please sign on here.