Connecticut Charges Inmates $249 per day for incarceration

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n by putting them in debt for life.</p><p id="c36e">Those states that reinforced the pay-to-stay laws are scaling back on its application for lesser crimes over more serious crimes such as murder, etc. In Connecticut, less crime would eliminate exempting prisoners from paying the first $50,000 of their incarceration costs. Under Connecticut’s revised law, about 98% of Connecticut inmates no longer have to pay any costs for their incarceration after their release thanks to the state Rep. Steve Stafstrom, a Bridgeport Democrat and a sponsor of the repeal legislation.</p><p id="e409">Of all the states, Connecticut appears to be more notorious for sitting and waiting for former inmates’ success in life. In the past, Connecticut would collect prison debt by attaching an automatic lien to every inmate, to claim half of any financial windfall they might receive from insurance settlements, inheritance, and lottery winnings for up to twenty years after their release, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut. Worse yet, Connecticut collected money awarded to inmates in lawsuits over alleged abuse by prison guards. Even prisoners that were in jail before the law was on the books, upon release were charged the pay-to-stay rate for each day incarcerated.</p><p id="32d9">This new legislation helps the newly released inmates moving forward in their lives but the ones of the past have found themselves with a price tag on them that makes living a decent life near impossible. Those debts that are already on Connecticut’s book, retained its ability to collect some prison debts. Connecticut only enforces the laws when an ex-inmate comes into some property or money.</p><p id="6e8a">During the 1980s and 1990s, the pay-to-stay laws were ushered in in many areas during the tough-on-crime era. During this time the prison populations were ballooning out of control and policymakers decided to place the financial burden on the inmates and not the state and taxpayers. Some inmates who have been affected by the pay-to-stay laws were not informed of such laws until the state came calling because of some monetary gains.</p><p id="eb9f"><b>In conclusion</b>, the pay-to-stay laws need to be removed from the books because moni

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es are yet going into the penal system from taxpayers’ dollars. Where is all this money going? Who is regulating these funds? How are inmates supposed to acclimate their lives back in society with laws like this hanging over their heads and in their pocketbooks or wallet? This is wrong.</p><p id="cf6a">For additional reads:</p><div id="c751" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/a-taser-gets-brooks-two-shots-in-the-back-2f26265e50ff"> <div> <div> <h2>A Taser Gets Brooks Two Shots in the Back</h2> <div><h3>A poem about how two cops walk away free from murder charges.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*uP9dwUQEKz20Reux.jpg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="c1ca" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/the-supreme-court-is-out-of-touch-46616fee4606"> <div> <div> <h2>The Supreme Court is Out of Touch</h2> <div><h3>How the highest court in the land worked against Blacks and now females.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*OIIsePvJoedtprat)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="9111" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/legacy-of-attorney-charles-hamilton-houston-jim-crow-killer-d519c01c7bca"> <div> <div> <h2>Legacy of Attorney Charles Hamilton Houston, Jim Crow Killer</h2> <div><h3>How the man who killed Jim Crow was the forerunner to Justice Thurgood Marshall.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*bPQC3jqDL7KrYXAV.jpg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

Connecticut Charges Inmates $249 per day for incarceration

How the penal system is designed to keep ex-inmates in financial bondage.

America has got so much dirt under its base that one would wonder if it is possible to ever get it right. People go to prison, do their time and some get a chance at life again, while others stay there for life or die in prison.

Some states have pay-to-stay laws where inmates are charged fees to reside in jail. Simply, this means that inmates have to pay for the cost of their time spent incarcerated. This sounds like a second penalty. What happens to the inmates that are wrongfully accused in those states? Do they have to pay this pay-to-stay law? This law further criminalizes inmates. What happens if they don’t have the money? Do they go back to jail and add to their already unpaid debt?

It is unbelievable that some inmates after being released have been charged $249 per day and these ex-inmates find themselves in debt. In Hartford, Connecticut, Teresa Beatty is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the state law that charges prisoners $249 a day while being imprisoned. Two decades after her release from prison, Connecticut put a lien on her family-owned home of 51 years, which she inherited from her mother when she died two years ago. The city claimed she owed $83,762 for her 2 1/2 year imprisonment for drug crimes.

These so-called pay-to-stay laws are in all but two states and are enforced in some but not all. Supposedly, this money goes back to the taxpayers for the millions of dollars spent on prisons and jails. Supporters are the laws claim it is a legitimate way for states to recoup their dollars spent. Critics say it is unfair and is another way to keep people from moving on with their lives in society and hinders rehabilitation by putting them in debt for life.

Those states that reinforced the pay-to-stay laws are scaling back on its application for lesser crimes over more serious crimes such as murder, etc. In Connecticut, less crime would eliminate exempting prisoners from paying the first $50,000 of their incarceration costs. Under Connecticut’s revised law, about 98% of Connecticut inmates no longer have to pay any costs for their incarceration after their release thanks to the state Rep. Steve Stafstrom, a Bridgeport Democrat and a sponsor of the repeal legislation.

Of all the states, Connecticut appears to be more notorious for sitting and waiting for former inmates’ success in life. In the past, Connecticut would collect prison debt by attaching an automatic lien to every inmate, to claim half of any financial windfall they might receive from insurance settlements, inheritance, and lottery winnings for up to twenty years after their release, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut. Worse yet, Connecticut collected money awarded to inmates in lawsuits over alleged abuse by prison guards. Even prisoners that were in jail before the law was on the books, upon release were charged the pay-to-stay rate for each day incarcerated.

This new legislation helps the newly released inmates moving forward in their lives but the ones of the past have found themselves with a price tag on them that makes living a decent life near impossible. Those debts that are already on Connecticut’s book, retained its ability to collect some prison debts. Connecticut only enforces the laws when an ex-inmate comes into some property or money.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the pay-to-stay laws were ushered in in many areas during the tough-on-crime era. During this time the prison populations were ballooning out of control and policymakers decided to place the financial burden on the inmates and not the state and taxpayers. Some inmates who have been affected by the pay-to-stay laws were not informed of such laws until the state came calling because of some monetary gains.

In conclusion, the pay-to-stay laws need to be removed from the books because monies are yet going into the penal system from taxpayers’ dollars. Where is all this money going? Who is regulating these funds? How are inmates supposed to acclimate their lives back in society with laws like this hanging over their heads and in their pocketbooks or wallet? This is wrong.

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