Overcriminalization significantly undermines human flourishing and social well-being by harming the family, social networks, and social citizenship. Additionally, it prevents capable men and women from utilizing their creative capacities in the marketplace. This creates vast issues involving relations with family while incarcerated and reintegration into society after release. On the economic side, draconian cash bail systems undermine justice through basing someone's ability to attain pre-trial release upon their wealth, not their actual threat to society.
“Sara Pratt, a civil rights lawyer and former fair housing official at HUD, said all landlords should “take the lead on being responsible on this and should take a second look at what reasonable criteria are.” But for all of the local efforts underway, she added, the answer was already on the books: the Fair Housing Act. It just needs to be enforced.“
New York Times
September 3, 2019
Read More“Over the next seven years, Sims learned the harsh economics of prison life: almost everything she needed she had to buy at the prison commissary, and price shopping wasn’t an option. Even sending and receiving email cost money. Her out-of-pocket costs didn’t end when she was released in May after serving her time for voluntary manslaughter. Prison officials gave her a debit card — loaded with her own money — that charged her a fee for every transaction.“
Atlanta Journal Constitution
August 31, 2019
Read More“Now to Arizona, where prison inmates are being charged for medical procedures that should be paid for by the state. And many don't know about the charges until debt collectors come calling. As Jimmy Jenkins of member station KJZZ reports, the unpaid bills are damaging credit and making it more difficult for former inmates to start over after they've been released.“
NPR
May 27, 2019
Read More“Being in prison cuts people off from friends, family and other sources of support. And sometimes parole conditions bar former inmates from moving back home if other family members also have criminal records — a common situation in poor neighborhoods. The reentry facility in Atlanta was created because so many state prisoners were from the area but were locked up in facilities far from home, according to Sanders from the Georgia Department of Corrections. Most of the prisons are in rural Georgia, Sanders said, which made it difficult for Atlanta-area inmates to reconnect with family and local services. “
Pew Charitable Trust
April 23, 2019
Read More“When he learned he had lost the second rental, Charles told The Post that his disappointment was akin to what he felt when he learned he’d have to go back to jail after previously being released. He has been crashing on a friend’s couch since he was released Jan. 3 but hopes to secure a two-bedroom apartment of his own.“
Washington Post
March 18, 2019
Read More“Randall’s story illustrates that reintegration requires more than just determination and work ethic, a key finding of our three-year study of the day-to-day lives of formerly incarcerated individuals. About a third struggle with hunger, homelessness and housing instability.“
The Hill
March 15, 2019
Read More“Just three days after he revealed he could not find housing in Nashville, Matthew Charles learned he will not have to worry about paying rent for the next five years — all thanks to Kim Kardashian-West. "Now, all... I have to do is find the place," Charles told the USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee Monday night.“
The Tennessean
March 11, 2019
Read More“The negative financial effects continue even after release, as former inmates face severe discrimination in the labor market. Consequently, former inmates face significant impediments to accessing credit. But here is the paradox: Without credit, such individuals face myriad financial difficulties, from not being able to afford transportation or a place to live to falling victim to predatory lending and even homelessness.“
The Hill
March 5, 2019
Read More“The problem is Florida’s strict guidelines for who can and can’t get financial aid make no provision for people who have turned their lives around; they do not take into consideration how long ago the offense occurred and treats convicted murderers the same as it treats those convicted of some lesser crimes, such as burglary.“
Tallahassee Democrat
September 22, 2018
Read More“The way this works varies. In some states, formerly incarcerated people are sent bills, and in others they are charged fines (sometimes called legal financial obligations, or LFOs). Some states collect the cost of incarcerating someone through windfall statutes, grabbing any inheritances, lottery winnings or proceeds from litigation. “
Huffington Post
September 16, 2018
Read More“About 8 million Californians, or 1 in 5 people throughout the state, have such records — and they’re subject to thousands of restrictions, large and small, imposed on freed people with a criminal history, the report says.“
San Francisco Chronicle
September 13, 2018
Read More“States set their own eligibility rules. Most deny reimbursement to victims who refuse to cooperate with law enforcement or who were committing a crime that contributed to their injury or death. States with bans—which also include Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Rhode Island and North Carolina—go one step further, scouring the victim’s past.“
The Marshall Project
September 13, 2018
Read More“Earlier in the summer, the House passed a version of the farm bill that contains a provision that would cut off benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (better known as SNAP or food stamps) for those who have completed sentences for certain violent crimes — even though they’ve served their time in prison. Current law, which expires this month, denies SNAP benefits only to those found guilty of a violent crime who violate their parole or the terms of their release.“
Washington Post
September 10, 2018
Read More“We believe that there is a need for this kind of financial education within the penal system, and that this pilot program can be scaled to meet the needs of states, counties and municipalities across the country. We also believe this program is evidence that government can innovate and collaborate for the benefit of all citizens. After all, thousands of men and women are returning to their communities each year after being incarcerated, and we want to them to become independent and successful.“
Governing Institute
September 6, 2018
Read More"The point is to lift the financial burden from people leaving the criminal justice system, many of whom have low incomes and can’t afford the fees. While not punitive, the fees were intended to cover the costs of criminal justice programs. But the Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector found that more than 80 percent of the bills went unpaid, so the city received minimal benefit. San Francisco was the first city and county in the country to waive such fees."
San Francisco Chronicle
August 23, 2018
Read More"My own story stands as a testament to the fact that today’s incarcerated person could become tomorrow’s professor. A person who once sold illegal drugs on the street could become tomorrow’s medical doctor. But this can only happen if such a person, and the many others in similar situations, are given the chance."
The Conversation
August 16, 2018
Read More"Yet CAP focuses its critique (as does the American Friends Service Committee) on the absence of democratic control and oversight over the commercial operations of mass incarceration, which is often detached from any reasonable public-justice priority and represents a wider pattern of corporate impunity across the criminal-justice system."
The Nation
August 9, 2018
Read More"The House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development has advised states to review their licensing laws. Strict licensing requirements have cost the economy 2.85 million jobs, according to The Hamilton Project, a research group within the liberal Brookings Institution."
The Marshall Project
July 10, 2018
Read More''Much of this difference is due to mass incarceration. Nearly 8% of prime-age black men did not work because they were institutionalised—the vast majority in prison—compared with 1.5% of whites. The elevated rates of workforce non-participation and unemployment for black men could also be explained by employers’ reluctance to hire applicants with criminal records.'
The Economist
July 7, 2018
Read More"The lawsuit claims that all five people — residents who have been incarcerated or are related to someone who has been incarcerated — have been harmed by Connecticut’s practice of counting incarcerated people in the places they are locked up instead of the place they reside, for the purposes of redistricting."
New Haven Independent
June 28, 2018
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