Incarceration and its costs on women

The New York Times article, entitled “Report Details Economic Hardships for Inmate Families” discussed a recent study by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. The report, entitled “Who Pays: The True Cost of Incarceration on Families,” showed that the costs of the criminal justice system and incarceration are not just burdens on the offender, but are significant burdens on their families.

The study found that on average, families paid over $13,000 for court costs, including court fees and fines, attorneys’ fees, bail, and restitution, and that 83% of the family members primarily responsible for those costs were women.

The cost of supporting an incarcerated family member during their imprisonment and maintaining contact with them can easily add up. Phone calls, commissary, medical co-pays, and traveling to the prison to visit, which can include hotel stays, gas, and food, add up to hundreds to thousands of dollars a year. People surveyed reported spending over $1,000 on a single prison visit to their loved one.

Maintaining connections between people in prison and their family or other support networks is important for the maintenance of the family unit and helps with the re-entry of the incarcerated person post-imprisonment. However, as shown in the study by the Ella Baker Center, this support requires a significant financial commitment by the imprisoned person’s family.

According to a University of Washington study, 44 percent of black women and 12 percent of white women have a family member imprisoned, compared with 32 percent of black men and 6 percent of white men. This data conforms to what we know about the racial make up of prison populations.

A study by the Public Policy Institute of California found that at the end of 2016 29% of male prisoners in state prison were African American, while only 6% of the state’s male residents are African American. A total of three out of four male prisoners in California are nonwhite.

Black people are both over represented in terms of the number of people who are incarcerated, and the number of black women who support them. This, combined with income inequality of women contributes to the difficulties of maintaining family connections with people in prison and further accentuates the burdens on women of color.

In 2017 women made, on average, 80.5% as much as white men in similar positions with similar qualifications. For women of color the pay gap is greater. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, in 2017 compared to white men’s income, black women made 60.8%, Hispanic/Latina women made 53%, white women made 77% and Asian women made 85.1%.

While the economic inequality of women and criminal justice reform are frequently discussed in public discourse, the deep connections between the two are not often made. Court fines and fees, which are often paid not by the offender, but by their family members, punish families and subject them to greater levels of poverty.

California has shifted its focus in recent years from punishment to rehabilitation, yet prisons and jails still charge exorbitant amounts of money for phone calls and commissary. Prisons are regularly located in remote area and people in prison are transferred to prisons far away from their family for various reasons which create barriers and additional costs to visitation and maintenance of family connections.

If California is in fact interested in women’s economic inequality and rehabilitating offenders it needs to address who is truly impacted by the economic costs of incarceration.