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Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025
Filed under: Cost of Prison Systems
Costs of U.S. Incarceration to Families Pegged at Nearly $350 Billion a Year by Chuck Sharman To maintain and operate the prisons and jails that hold nearly 2 million American costs a lot—an estimated $82 billion a year, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Sep. 2023, p.56.] But that is just …
Article • May 1, 2025 • from PLN May, 2025
Missouri Repeals “Pay-to-Stay” Law by When Missouri Gov. Michael Kehoe (R) signed HB 495 on March 26, 2025, authorizing a state takeover of policing in St. Louis, the bill included repeal of the Missouri Incarceration Reimbursement Act (MIRA). Also known as “pay-to-stay,” it allowed the state to sue for funds …
Article • April 1, 2025 • from PLN April, 2025
TDCJ to Run Out of Beds in 2025 by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke The Sunset Advisory Commission, an oversight body for Texas government agencies, published a 189-page report in September 2024 that found persistent critical staffing shortages are making Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prisons unsafe for staff …
Article • December 15, 2024 • from PLN December, 2024
GEO Group Just Wants to Be a Landlord for Oklahoma DOC by In June 2024, after Oklahoma failed to meet a $3 million pay hike demanded by The GEO Group, Inc., the private prison operator gave notice to terminate its contract to run Lawton Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility (LCRF), the …
Article • December 15, 2024 • from PLN December, 2024
Kentucky’s Failure to Timely Release Prisoners Costs Taxpayers $30 Million (So Far) by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney When Kentucky prisoner Keith Bramblett complained about not receiving “good time credit” against his sentence for the class he took while incarcerated, an official with the state Department of Corrections (DOC) replied: …
Article • October 15, 2024 • from PLN October, 2024
Impoverished Ohio County Gets New Jail Space After Settling Suit for Bloody Detainee Assault by On June 18, 2024, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced $32 million in state funding for a new regional jail to serve Jackson, Lawrence, and Pike Counties. That promises significant savings for Pike County, among …
CoreCivic’s Successful Campaign for Mass Incarceration Continues in Tennessee by When he was picked to chair the Tennessee Republican Party’s annual Statemen’s Dinner on June 15, 2024—billed as “the largest political event of the year” in the Republican-­dominated state—Damon Hininger, CEO of private prison operator CoreCivic, brought his firm into …
Tennessee DOC Rewards CoreCivic with Pay Increase Despite Critical Watchdog Audit by When Tennessee lawmakers adopted a new $52.8 billion state budget on April 18, 2024, it hiked outlays for the state Department of Corrections (DOC) to $233 million, a $9.8 million increase that mostly went to private prison giant …
Article • June 1, 2024 • from PLN June, 2024
Report Finds Current Path of Florida Prison System “Unsustainable” by David Reutter by David M. Reutter   Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) leaders have come before the state legislature repeatedly to warn that it is a system operating in crisis. In a presentation on November 15, 2023, by global consulting …
The Graying of American Prisons by The term “geriatric” can apply to a prisoner as young as 50 in some prison systems, and it describes the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. incarcerated population. As Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) reported on August 2, 2023, the number has quintupled over the past …
As ICE Data Errors Persist, GEO Group Cashes In by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman Data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University reveal that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to struggle with accurate reporting of the number of migrants it tracks through its …
Article • December 1, 2023 • from PLN December, 2023
The Economist Calls for More Alternatives to Incarceration by The report addressed high rates of incarceration in England and Wales, though its lessons apply to the U.S., where incarceration rates are even higher. The countries’ shared inclination toward imprisonment reflects a desire to safeguard the public from potential threats, which …
Prolonged COVID-19 Visitation Restrictions Net Georgia Jails Over $1.5 Million in Telecom Kickbacks by Jordan Arizmendi by Jordan Arizmendi According to a report by the Georgia Current on April 14, 2023, jails in several of the state’s coastal counties were still profiting by extending COVID-19 visitation bans, forcing detainees and …
Article • June 15, 2023 • from PLN June, 2023
New York Finding Closed Prisons a Tough Sell by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman Since its peak nearly two decades ago, New York’s prisoner population has fallen by half. Added to the millions of dollars it cost the state Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS) to build the prisons …
Article • May 2, 2023
Filed under: Cost of Prison Systems
Alabama No-Bid Prison Contract Costs More Per Bed Than State’s Average Home by Jordan Arizmendi by Jordan Arizmendi The Alabama Corrections Institution Finance Authority recently approved a $975 million no-bid contract for a single new prison – roughly equal to the budget of Alabama’s entire Department of Mental Health. Dividing …
Virginia DOC Resists Prisoner Fee Cuts by Ashleigh Dye by Ashleigh N. Dye A report released by the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) on October 1, 2022, largely rejected recommendations made by a work group to reduce costs for prisoners in state lockups and their families. Tasked by the state …
Article • April 1, 2023 • from PLN April, 2023
Report Shows How Perverse Financial Incentives Drive Mass Incarceration and Inequity in Criminal Justice System by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke A 72-page report by the Brennan Center for Justice published on July 6, 2022, shows how civil asset forfeiture, fines, fees and privatized community supervision shift the costs of …
Article • April 1, 2023 • from PLN April, 2023
U.S. Response to Haitian Crisis: Fund More Prisons by Jayson Hawkins by Jayson Hawkins Haiti’s recent history reads like an endless tragedy of natural disasters and political upheavals. In between devastating hurricanes and earthquakes, a presidential assassination and gang wars paint a picture of a failed state. Violence regularly halts …
Article • April 1, 2023 • from PLN April, 2023
BOP Revives Plans for Controversial Prison in Kentucky by Kevin Bliss by Kevin W. Bliss On December 8, 2022, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) released a summary of the Public Scoping Meeting held in Whitesburg, Kentucky, regarding its proposed bid to build a $500 million federal prison on top …
Article • January 1, 2023 • from PLN January, 2023
Massive Price Tags and Meager Results: The Legacy of Federal Monitors in New York City by Benjamin Tschirhart by Benjamin Tschirhart From payoffs to teachers over biased tests to oversight for excessive force in New York City jails, there’s money in being a federal monitor for New York City agencies. …
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