Corrections Fees Archives - Fines and Fees Justice Center

New York Assembly Bill A7658A: Providing voice communication service to incarcerated people at no cost.

This bill would require New York to provide free calls for people incarcerated in jails and prisons. It forbids state and local agencies from generating revenue through communications services.

Paying for Jail: How County Jails Extract Wealth from New York Communities

This report examines the burdensome costs of phone calls, commissary, and disciplinary tickets assessed by New York jails, specifically those outside of New York City.

Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2019

The Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act clarifies that the Federal Communications Commission – an agency housed within the Executive branch of the federal government – has the legal authority to stop prison phone companies from charging exorbitant fees to incarcerated people.

Justice “cost points”: Examination of privatization within public systems of justice

This study explores how local and state governments allow corporations to generate profits from public criminal justice institutions and examines how that structure harms people forced to pay for private services.

Connecticut House Bill 6714: Concerning the cost of telecommunications services in correctional facilities.

This bill would require the Connecticut Department of Corrections to provide telecommunications services at no cost to incarcerated people.

Commercialized (In)justice: Consumer Abuses in the Bail and Corrections Industry

This report examines two concerning trends: the increasing use of fines and fees to fund the criminal legal system, and functions of that system being outsourced to private companies who profit from the criminal legal system.

State of Phone Justice: Local jails, state prisons and private phone providers

This policy brief from the Prison Policy Initiative provides an overview of prison and jail phone call fees and makes several recommendations to reform them.

Prison Phone Justice: Intrastate Collect Prison Phone Rates [Map]

The Campaign for Prison Phone Justice maintains a website tracking the cost of phone calls from prisons in all U.S. states as well as the sum of kickbacks that families of incarcerated people have paid to relevant corrections agencies nationwide.

Pay or Prey: How the Alameda County criminal justice system extracts wealth from marginalized communities

This whitepaper uses evidence-based research and personal narratives to examine the harms caused by Alameda County criminal legal fees.

UNDER PRESSURE: How fines and fees hurt people, undermine public safety, and drive Alabama’s racial wealth divide

This report examines in detail the collateral consequences of Alabama’s court debt system and explores the ways in which it undermines public safety and drives the state’s racial wealth divide.