SJC Exchange Library

Originally posted by Wanda Bertram on on 05/06/2024

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Hi everyone,

I wanted to let you know about a new report the Prison Policy Initiative released this morning, Shadow Budgets: How mass incarceration steals from the poor to give to the prison. Our report examines how at least 49 prison systems use kickbacks from commissary and telecom purchases-as well as other revenues, like disciplinary fines-to pad their budgets through "Inmate Welfare Funds."

These funds are supposed to be used to benefit incarcerated people, but our analysis in this report finds that all too often, the money in prisons' welfare funds:

• Is used to pay for capital projects, such as prison construction, or for basic essentials for incarcerated people - items that prisons and jails should be paying for
• Is governed by loose regulations, under which virtually any spending is "justified"
• Sits unused despite an urgent need for in-prison programming

Shadow Budgets contains a state-by-state appendix showing how welfare funds in 48 states - plus the federal prison system - are accrued, spent, and overseen; and a second appendix listing some of the most common expenditures, prohibited expenses, and regulatory language across the welfare funds we investigated.

We also collect anecdotes about welfare funds in local jails. These anecdotes suggest that jails are prone to using incarcerated people's money in even more egregious ways than prisons, frequently spending it on perks like holiday dinners and weapons for law enforcement.

Our report lays out policy recommendations for state and local governments to end the worst misuses of welfare funds while protecting the basic needs they all too often pay for. In particular, we urge states to ban the use of welfare fund money for construction or staff costs, to meet incarcerated people's basic needs through the general appropriations process, and to guarantee that incarcerated people and their families have a say in how welfare fund money is spent. We also emphasize the need for jails and prisons to decarcerate, one underscored by their choice to shift the fiscal burden of incarceration onto families.

The full report is available here: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/shadowbudgets.html 

We also released a companion guide to help people investigate inmate welfare funds in prisons and jails in their area. While the guide was designed with reporters in mind, it provides helpful tips and insights for advocates who also want to identify and challenge abuses of inmate welfare funds in their communities.

I hope you find it useful in your work.

Take care,

Wanda

Prison Policy Initiative