Massachusetts' Budget Plan: Force Prisoners to Pay to Stay in Jail

The recession has been forcing states to cut their prison spending in creative ways this year, and most have chosen to gut support for rehabilitation. It's a shortsighted and ultimately costly move — but nothing compared to what Massachusetts is considering doing.

Right now, the Massachusetts State Senate is weighing a budget that would allow county jails and state prisons to charge prisoners $5 for every day that they're incarcerated. As if they were staying in some kind of a hotel. The money they 'owe' will be automatically deducted from prisoners' commissary accounts — most of which, of course, comes from deposits made by family and friends. But not to worry! Prisoners won't be evicted from their lodgings if they can't pay. No, they will be billed after they leave, so that their reentry into society will be aided by having a huge debt hanging over their head like Damocles' sword. What a great idea.

The Massachusetts House version of the bill (passed weeks ago) doesn't stop at rent, either. If the whole thing makes it past the Massachusetts Senate, inmates will also be charged for prescription medications ($3) and doctors visits ($5).

The state's pay-to-stay-incarcerated plan has (justifiably) upset some folks. On Tuesday, protesters gathered outside the Massachusetts State House to demand that the provision be dropped. After the demonstration, a local Reverend was quoted in the Boston Globe as making the eminently reasonable observation that the proposed changes are “unreasonable, unrealistic, and disrespectful" and "would only contribute to a vicious cycle of recidivism.’’

The Globe also quoted the state representative sponsoring the bill, who evidently told the reporter, “The thing is with prisoners is that a lot go in with a ton of money that they put in a canteen, which they spend on candy and other goodies.” She went on to say that by charging inmates for their incarceration to fix the state's budget hole, the state would be...teaching them responsibility.

Frankly, the Globe could have done a lot better with this one — its piece is a disappointingly bland, report-the-conflict summary. There are simply some issues that you can't play straight down the middle. Some stories need more than a quote from each side. This is one of them. Massachusetts legislators need to hear that there's no moral argument to be made in favor of billing people for the privilege of being stripped of their rights and held against their will. Doing so is nothing but state-sanctioned pick-pocketing.

Photo Credit: mykaul