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

Even After Release Prisoners Are Still Being Price Gouged

Nov 3, 2015 | by admin

Vox explains corporate America’s continuing financial abuse of prisoners through debit release cards and Senator Booker’s request to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to impose stricter regulations on the practice.

Consumers aren’t typically exposed to the stringent fees prison bankers impose on released inmates, in large part because the typical consumer could just go elsewhere, and such exorbitant fees and charges would draw the ire of lawmakers and regulators. But business competition isn’t really a problem for prison banking services, which essentially hold a monopoly in many prisons and jails across the country. Regulatory oversight isn’t an issue either, because prepaid prison cards are by and large ignored by regulators like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Read more about these egregious practices and let your lawmakers know this must stop!

 

http://www.vox.com/explainers/2015/11/3/9661554/prison-bank-prepaid-card