U.S. prison officials resist making inmates pay court-ordered victim fees
The Washington Post, August 4, 2022: U.S. prison officials resist making inmates pay court-ordered victim fees
“The Federal Bureau of Prisons has been pushing back against efforts to make inmates pay much more of their court-ordered restitution to crime victims, in part because the money they would use helps fund salary and benefits for hundreds of agency staff positions, documents and interviews show.
“Federal prisoner spending generates more than $80 million a year for the agency — mostly from profits on items like commissary purchases and phone calls, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ response to a public records request. Those documents also show that the agency earns interest from some accounts.
“In Justice Department discussions last month, senior prison officials argued that the agency should not dramatically increase the amount of prisoner money turned over to victims, according to people familiar with the internal deliberations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the conversations. Any sharp uptick, the people described officials saying, would cut into a vital income stream at a time when the agency is already understaffed.
“Jack Donson, a retired Bureau of Prisons case manager coordinator who now consults on the federal prison system, said the issue highlights a ‘dysfunctional’ culture at the prison bureau, with officials focused on preserving the flow of money through commissary accounts — known within the agency as the Trust Fund.
“‘At meetings, staffers often referred to the Trust Fund as a “slush fund,” so I have always been suspicious of it,’ Donson said.
“Over the last year, The Washington Post revealed that some high-profile inmates, including Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, had sizable prison account balances yet paid very little of what they owed to their victims. Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco issued a directive to study the issue and make changes to the program.”
Additional reading:
The Marshall Project, August 4, 2022: Prison Money Diaries: What People Really Make (and Spend) Behind Bars
Bloomberg, August 4, 2022: R Kelly Has $28,000 in His Prison-Inmate Account. Prosecutors Want to Seize It
The New York Times, July 14, 2022: For Young Offenders, Restitution Debts Can Present Crippling Obstacles
The Nevada Independent, August 5, 2022: Why is the Nevada Department of Corrections profiting off struggling families?
