The Cost of Unnecessarily Incarcerating Poor People

Poor people are more likely to be driven toward crime, more likely to be sentenced harshly and less likely to recover fully after they are released. Thanks to a stunning three-part series of pieces produced by National Public Radio, we can see exactly how the inequality of the criminal justice system takes shape, starting from the moment of arrest.

NPR dedicated a whopping 21 minutes to the first part of its story on the business of bail bondsmen and its harmful effects on low-income prisoners and state budgets. The depiction is astonishing, even for those who already knew that bail bond shops often are little more than a scam. It begins, as so many horror stories about the criminal justice system do, in Texas, where a man who stole four blankets to keep himself warm while sleeping in his car has been in jail for more than six months because he doesn't have $350 to pay a bondsman. His crime probably would only earn him parole, but until he pays up or his trial date finally arrives, he's stuck in a cell, at a total cost to the public of more than $7,000.

Then comes the kicker: two-thirds of American inmates are people like this man in Texas, nonviolent offenders, or people accused of a nonviolent crime, who cannot come up with a few hundred dollars to pay for their release. So taxpayers continue to pay more than $9 billion a year to keep them in jail.

Laura Sullivan, who reported the story, is one of the best journalists in the country covering crime and punishment issues (her bio page carries links to many of her other stories, which have garnered numerous awards), and the way she summarizes the situation is too eloquent to paraphrase:

"The result is that people with money get out. They go back to their jobs and their families, pay their bills and fight their cases. And according to the Justice Department and national studies, those with money face far fewer consequences for their crimes.

"People without money stay in jail and are left to take whatever offer prosecutors feel like giving them."

It's not for lack of other options. As Sullivan documents in the third part of the series, the pretrial release program -- which allows for nonviolent inmates to be released with an ankle monitor or other restrictions -- has been widely successful. In Broward County, Florida, expanding pretrial release led to $20 million in savings and eliminated the need for a new jail. The only people hurt by the move were the bondsmen, who have a powerful lobby in Broward. Within two years, the pretrial release program was slashed dramatically by the same commissioners who had voted to expand it.

As for the man in Texas who stole blankets, he was eventually released for time served, with the caveat that he must accept a felony conviction. His car, which was also his home, was repossessed, and he told Sullivan he was having trouble finding a job because of his criminal record. He hasn't been seen since.

Photo credit: S Baker